SG: Saga of the new Alterran Empire: Book 4 A Destiny
by Malicious World Builder
Summary: This is the fourth book in the saga I am writing. I suggest you read the first three before reading this one. With a war raging across Earth between the Alterran Empire and the SEN the stage is set for anything to happen and as old enemies and even older ones return things will happen.
1. Chapter 0

**A/N:** Well look what the cat dragged in. Starting this week I will be posting as usual, every Sunday, until this book is finished. So that means that you will have almost five months of weekly reading to look forward to, maybe more if some of the chapters are fleshed out a bit. Enjoy this teaser and as you get the rest of this book tell me what you think, the good, the bad and the horrible mistakes I accidentally wrote in.

Jack was walking through the corridors of Atlantis when his com badge came to life. -General O'Neill please come to the control room.-

"I'll be there shortly." He turned into another corridor and into the transporter there, it took him into the control tower and a short walk later he arrived in the control room. The control room was the normal mix of people working at the consoles, but it was one of the Travelers who waved for him.

"Captain Larrin has located another Wraith patrol fleet. She wishes to know if her fleet is allowed to engage," the Traveler said when Jack stood on the other side of the console.

"The Traveler fleets have standing orders to attack and harass the Wraith fleets in that sector if they can do so without risk of losing personnel or ships. Care to explain why you people ask me to come up here every time you want to launch an attack?"

"Tradition General. A Captain should always ask for confirmation before attacking. Our ships were not made for combat before, though we now have ships more than capable of engaging the Wraith we are still used to fleeing."

Jack took a piece of paper from a notepad, wrote 'yes' in big letters on it and placed it on the console. "Well here's my answer if they keep asking. Just check the note if you're not sure what I'll answer and do tell all of the Captains that there's no need to ask if they have orders to do so, they simply need to inform us that they have done so."

"Yes General."

###

Halfway across the galaxy Larrin was sitting in the Captain's chair of her cloaked Retributor and watched the two wraith cruisers leave hyperspace on the front display. There was absolutely nothing around them, no planets, stars or other celestial bodies, and still the Alterran sensors had predicted the Wraith fleet's course and dropout point on the spot. Each time they tracked the Wraith it had worked and each time she adjusted her tactics to make better use of it. Now her own ship just managed to avoid getting hit by one of the cruisers as it drifted past a few meters above. I front of her she saw the strategic hologram with the two Wraith cruisers and the four cloaked Retributors in her fleet, she watched as her ship and the other Retributor she was pairing up with matched the speed of the cruiser that was passing between the two ships. A few seconds later the other two Retributors did the same and matched the other cruiser.

Beneath the hull plating of the four Retributors the weapons moved around to position themselves to deal maximum damage on the first strike, the weapons locked onto the hyperdrives, sublight engines, weapons and life support systems inside the cruisers. When all four Retributors had locked onto the cruisers they turned green on the hologram.

Larrin let the wraith cruisers move a few seconds just to make sure everything was as it seemed and that the Alterran sensors had detected everything. When Larrin gave the order hull plating on the the four Retributors parted and the ship decloaked. The four strong plasma pulse weapons of each Retributor pounded the hull of the cruisers. The first strike took out the engines of the ships and the cruisers began to drift without guidance, the one Larrin was targeting angled downwards and scraped along the shield until she had a chance to correct their course. Meanwhile the weaker turrets waited for any darts to deploy. A few darts managed to escape the hangar before the cruisers were ripped apart. The darts swung around as soon as they could and dove towards the Retributors, but the turrets picked them of without problem.

In a matter of seconds Larrin could see the destruction they had caused, if felt good to finally strike back even if they had already destroyed a handful of hives and several dozen cruisers.

"Deploy the beacons," she ordered.

Someone confirmed the order and the four ships let out a small cloud of autonomous robots that would seek out and report the position of any technology among the debris, Larrin did not know why they needed to know the location of Wraith debris but Mokar had been adamant that they release the beacons.


	2. Chapter 1

Sheppard and Daniel was standing in front of the gate. The Supreme Earth Nobility had called for a peace meeting and they were waiting for Ronon who was still serving as Bra'tac's bodyguard. In front of them the gate activated and an incoming wormhole was established.

"Sir we're receiving Ronon's identification code," a technician said.

"Lower the shield," Sheppard ordered. Instantly the shield around the gate vanished. It took a few second before Ronon stepped through the gate with a handful of men behind him. He was still wearing his new white Jaffa armour.

"Sheppard, how are things going?" Ronon asked.

"I think we're about to final end this conflict," Sheppard said. Just as he finished his sentence Teyla came into the room, like everyone except Ronon she was dressed in the creme white ceremonial Alterran uniform that was only slightly more decorated than the normal creme white uniform that they were using during everyday life.

"I apologise for being late, this uniform is so simple that I thought I missed something," she said.

"Don't worry Teyla, Ronon still needs to have one fitted," Daniel assured her while Ronon was helped out of the arm. Since it was an important event Daniel was forcing everyone to wear the uniform to make a good impression, but it was also a way of putting on a display of power. Normally the fighting force on Earth fighting for the Alterra wore the uniforms of the military from where they came but ever so slowly Daniel was using their spare resources to outfit the fighting force with the Alterran uniforms to show that they were a unified fighting force.

With a laugh Sheppard turned around "Good luck with that. Let's get going."

"Not until Ronon's changed," Daniel said.

"Forget it," Ronon said and passed by Daniel.

Daniel was about to protest when Teyla leaned in towards him. "It is not worth the effort Daniel."

Daniel sighed and followed Sheppard who lead them out of the gate room and into the base's jumper hangar. A jumper was standing ready for them right inside the entrance and they all boarded. It was against Sheppard's routine, but Daniel had convinced him that for the occasion they needed a pilot to arrive in style so the four sat down in the rear compartment.

The jumper rose up and two uncloaked escorting jumpers followed slightly behind. On the HUD they could see several dozen wireframes of the small fleet of cloaked jumpers that would provide backup if needed. The meeting was on a large open plain in northern Africa but it only took them a few minutes to cross the distance.

"We're approaching the coordinates provided," the pilot reported.

Sheppard got up and walked up to the pilot's seat. "Set us down with the rear facing away from them," he ordered. He turned around and headed for the rear door but Daniel stopped him. Daniel gave him a light padding around the waist and removed the two Alterran pistols Sheppard had beneath his shirt.

"This is a diplomatic mission, we are here to make a good impression and stop the armed conflict," Daniel said while he handed the two pistols to Ronon. "If we need backup I think Ronon, Teyla, the fleet of jumpers and the small army of soldiers you brought will be more than enough."

"If they do anything I'll shoot them," Ronon promised just as they touched down.

"Fine." Every fiber in Sheppard's body told him he did the wrong thing when he pushed the button next to the hatch and it began to lower.

"I'll take the lead on this one Colonel," Daniel said when he stepped by Sheppard on the way out. From the other two uncloaked jumpers twelve soldiers stepped out and followed a few meters behind Daniel and Sheppard. A huge tent had been set up and a small group of people were sitting at a table while many other ran around inside with food and drinks.

A single man approached Daniel and Sheppard a few meters in front of the tent. Both Teyla and Ronon had joined the Lantean soldiers behind them. Sheppard signaled for them to stop while he and Daniel followed the man into the tent. The men around the table rose when they came up to them.

"Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard. I am glad that you chose to accept our offer." The man who had spoken was standing at the center of the table, he sat down and the other people sat down too. They were all seated on one side of the table and there were plenty of empty chairs on Daniel and Sheppard's side, the man who had spoken waved his hand at some of the people running around and all but two chairs were removed.

Daniel and Sheppard sat down on the two chairs that had been left for them and Daniel placed a datapad that he had brought with him on the table.

"War has never been our intention. We have always wished for peace for the population of Earth, the Milky Way and the universe," Daniel replied.

"Yet you come here and claim territory from us without our consent," one of the men on the other side said.

"Now now Gustaf, we're here to find a peaceful solution to this conflict, not fuel it further with accusations," the man in the middle said.

"It's alright," Daniel replied. He projected several documents from the datapad onto the table. They were all written in different ancient languages.

"I do apologize Doctor Jackson but I read neither of these languages. I will have to have them translated," the man said.

"It's simply to answer Gustaf, they are documents from the time when humans began to explore Earth. Signed by the few remaining Alterrans and any civilisations that would have eventually come to the southern pole where the Alterran outpost was located. They all state that the Alterrans would be left alone to rule over the Antarctic continent while the humans would be free to do as they pleased with the rest of the planet. We will of course provide copies of both the originals and translations if you wish. Now since you called for this peace meeting I assume that you have a proposal to lay forward."

"Of course Doctor Jackson. Though we had hoped that the Alterran would be here himself, you see I am the leader of the Nobility, Malcolm von Muniz, I think it is wise for us to meet personally to understand this war."

"He will be here to sign any peace treaty that is agreed upon and he will be informed about any treaty that I find acceptable."

"That will do. The first thing we request is that all forces under Alterran control leave Earth. Seeing as how posses these documents, if they are authentic and can be proven to be then perhaps we can limit this demand so that you limit operations to Antarctica," von Muniz said.

"Perhaps we can withdraw to Antarctica, the Alterra do not seek to directly rule Earth. We simply wish to help guide humanity out into the stars and gain the assistance of the humans for we do not have the numbers that we need," Daniel answered.

"You speak as if you are not one of us."

"There has been three evolutions of humans in the universe. Each more advanced than the former, humans are the first, dare I say most primitive and the most wide spread. Then there is the Lanteans, a race slightly more evolved than humans in almost every aspect. I've been transformed into a Lantean to better help the Alterra. Finally there is the Alterra, the last stage of evolution, where humans will end up in a few million years if evolution is allowed to continue. Both Lanteans and Alterra have some powers, the Alterra far more than the Lanteans. So yes I am human, just a step ahead in the evolutionary curve." Daniel concentrated on two of the glasses that a servant was carrying on her tray. He lifted his hand and the glasses moved up from the tray and when he twisted his hand the glasses began to float towards them. One landed in front of Sheppard while Daniel brought his up to his mouth and took a sip before letting it swirl around in the air and land back on the tray.

"See they're aliens, we should just kill them," Gustaf shouted.

"Technically we're not, we were both born on this planet," Daniel informed.

"That's enough Gustaf," von Muniz said. "Guards, take him away." Two large soldiers walked up behind Gustaf, who shouted and protested wildly, they lifted him out of the chair and over the backrest. They only carried him a few meters behind the tent before one of the guards took out a pistol and shot him a few times.

It took but a few seconds before someone came walking into the tent and took the empty chair.

"What a coincidence, Doctor Jackson, Colonel Sheppard, meet Gustaf's brother Henry," von Muniz said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Doctor Jackson, your reputation precedes you," Henry said. He placed a briefcase on the table and slid it over to Daniel. "This is a gift from my family to the Alterra to show how much we appreciate the fact that you were willing to come to this meeting."

###

Ronon and Teyla stood ready right next to the Jumpers, keeping an eye on everyone walking around inside the tent. They saw a man place a briefcases on the table and as one of the soldiers gave Teyla a powerbar it was ripped from her hand by an explosion. She was thrown off her feet. When she got up a split second later she saw Ronon already rushing toward the crater that was where the tent had stood moments before. The crater was huge, stretching hundreds of meters across and it was at least ten meters deep.

She activated her com badge while she ran after Ronon towards the crater. "Teyla to Earth HQ. Emergency recall Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard."

-I'm sorry Ma'am, we have lost their signals.-

"Find them."

-Yes Ma'am, we will see what we can do.-

Ronon had reached the edge of the crater and jumped into it. In a frenzy he dug around the bottom of the crater. She jumped after him and pulled him back.

"Let go of me," Ronon yelled as she pulled him backwards and they both fell. She landed on her back and he landed on top of her, the air was knocked out of her but she held onto him.

"Calm down Ronon. We will find out who did this, but the less we disturb this place the better the chances that we can figure out who did this." A few soldiers came down into the carter and helped them out of it.

Outside the crater the soldiers on the ground had gathered. "Ma'am, Sir. What are your orders?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Contact Mokar and tell him that there's an emergency that requires his presence," Teyla ordered. She looked down at Ronon who was lying on his back screaming in rage with tears streaming down his face. "You were military once Ronon, what should we do."

There was no reply.

"Ronon," she yelled.

"What's the use? They're dead, the Colonel's dead," Ronon growled.

Teyla grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a sitting position, gave him a hard slap across the face and threw him back down. "Get it together, what does your training tell you to do?"

Ronon threw a punch back at Teyla but she caught it and twisted his arm around. "I need you to calm down and think Ronon."

He let out a few hard breaths before relaxing, once he did she let go of his arm and he got back on his feet.

"Set up a blockade, no one in or out without my permission. Use the jumpers to do it. Get HQ to send two Auroras to assists. I want a full com blanket, if anyone lets slip what happened here I will personally shoot that person. Get Doctor Zelenka or someone like him here. Spread these orders to anyone who came here with us. Detain any locals who may have seen something and block all radio signals," Ronon ordered.

A joint "Yes Sir" rang out among the troops, they saluted him and hurried away. In a matter of minutes two Auroras had flown in above the site and they manipulated their shields to seal in the area along with them under a dome shield.

At the same time a flash of light left Mokar standing on the edge of the crafter where the tent, Daniel, Sheppard and the S.E.N representatives had been minutes earlier. Now it was all a crater filled with sand.

"What happened here?" Mokar asked.

"A bomb exploded," Teyla said. She was standing right by his side, Ronon had disappeared to secure the site.

"I can see that Teyla, I want to know why someone planted a bomb inside the tent."

"To break up the peace meeting one would assume."

"Yes of course Teyla! Why did I not think about that?"

"I apologise. I'll inform General O'Neill and Colonel Carter that Colonel Sheppard and Daniel are dead."

"Sir." A tech handed Mokar a tablet. "Sensors detected a strange energy signature during the explosion, we're still trying to determine what it is."

"Get Doctor Rush and Mister Wallace, see if they can make something of it," Mokar ordered.

"Yes, Sir." The tech ran of with the tablet in hand.

"Colonel Carter will turn over the galaxy to find the one who killed Daniel. She spoke highly of him, I think she was fond of him," Teyla said.

"And General O'Neill will set it on fire if they can not find him," Mokar remarked. "I guess you and Ronon will do the same for Colonel Sheppard?"

"Of course. Though we do not have the resources or the manpower to cause such things."

"You will have it. Take what men and equipment you need to figure it out. Whatever it takes I want the one who did this in shackles."

"We will do our best, but I do not know where to start."

"Then I suggest you get some people who know how to run things like this. Colonel Young and his men should be able to assist you."

"I will contact them."

"Good report to me when you have something. I heard that you ordered all communication cut of, that was good, make sure you keep this under wraps. I will deal with Carter and O'Neill." In a white flash Mokar vanished.

After a minute a soldier came running up the her. "Ma'am, we've set a perimeter around the site. Nothing in, nothing out. We have blocked all communications that we can block. Physical, radio and subspace. We have detained a family of twelve and their hoard of sheeps."

"Call Colonel Young, tell him that he and his men are needed here, inform me when they arrive. Have them start examining the site as soon as they do," Teyla ordered. The soldier bowed and walked away.

Teyla looked around for Ronon, but she only saw his tracks in the hard ground. She followed the tracks far away from the site to a mound of dirt where Ronon was sitting.

"I will kill them," Ronon yelled over and over again while she walked up to him and sat down next to him.

"We will find them Ronon, but is killing them all you care about? You are an important figure for these men Ronon, if you say such things they will think less of you. They will see you as a monster, is that what you want?" she spoke softly.

"I want Sheppard back Teyla. That's what I want. I even want McKay back."

"We will find a way to get through this Ronon, we still have each other and we have a place to live with people ready to fight the wraith."

"They were family, no matter how annoying McKay could be I still miss him."

"We will find out who did this Ronon, but I need you to concentrate and work with me. You survived the wraith culling on Sateda many times, you are a soldier and a survivor. Now we need you to be a commander, how should this be done?"

Ronon took a few breaths and got up. "Efficient and hard. We need to handle this as quick as we can to show that any attacks are pointless. We need to use force, we can leave survivors but no more than four or five, if we capture more than that we execute them in front of the others as a show of power."

"Such an act will turn the galaxy against us," Teyla said. She had gotten up and was following him back towards the crater.

"That's how war is fought, people always die, you just have to make sure it's the other side who does. But we need to show that there is no need for us to strike first, we will always deliver the final strike. That is the way to conduct war and the way to face terrorism that they taught us."

"I will let you lead, but when the time comes we will not kill more men than we have to."

"This is war Teyla, people need to die."


	3. Chapter 2

Mokar stood in front of the gigantic window that covered an entire wall of the Asgard lab, through it he could see the thousands of cloned Asgard bodies that Thor and his fellow Asgard had created on the station, each one slightly different than the others. The Asgard had solved the mental lock problems they had been suffering but finding a genetic profile that would accept the solution during any longer periods of time was proving difficult. Often the bodies would degrade the fix in a matter of days, sometimes even hours, and the mind would need to be retrieved from the body before it was lost.

"I was not aware that you had arrived in the lab. May I be of assistance?" Thor's voice asked. Because of the wait between clone batches the Asgard had chosen to spend their time in stasis and were using the station to communicate, all in an attempt to preserve the bodies they had for as long as possible.

"I asked the station to not disturb you Thor, still now that you are aware of my presence would you mind showing me the data on clone XA-432?" Mokar asked. The XA series was Mokar's small attempt to help the Asgard.

"Compiling data." Several displays in the lab came to life when the data was loaded onto them. "It seems XA-432 is one of the more promising clones. I do not know where its genetic makeup has been taken from."

"The original tissue comes from a race called the Angelo, my brothers and sisters created them to battle one of our enemies."

"They have properties suited for this?" Thor walked out of an alcove where the stasis pods were located. Stasis was good, but for this he felt that he needed to physically be there.

"They are enhanced with increased regeneration. Their wounds heal faster than even my would. I also believe that their DNA is immune to normal natural deterioration."

"Then are you using their DNA to heal the damage that is caused when the body rejects the changes?" Thor walked up to one of the consoles and began to examine the DNA closely.

"The Angelo DNA forms a membrane around the brain, the thought is that the body will not know that something is wrong."

"It is a clever way to cheat the body. I am not surprised, the Alterra have always created simple but clever solutions." Even with the Asgard's monotone voice Thor managed to sound impressed.

"I hope it will work. The Asgard have always been a great help to the Alterra, I will go to any lengths to help you," Mokar said.

"Then what is it that have forced you to come here? It will be many weeks before we know if any of these bodies are truly suitable for our needs." Thor was getting curious.

"The Travelers are attacking Wraith patrols across the galaxy to deploy the beacons that Loki created. So far the Vanir have cleaned up almost all of the debris fields and retrieved hundreds of the beacons intact, we know where they hide."

"Then what do you wish to do? Provide us with a ship and we can deal with them ourselves, they are the Asgards' problem."

"Thor, do not see the Vanir as a problem. The Vanir can be an asset to you and us if you treat them with respect and show them that the new bodies will help them too."

"You would not have us punish them?" Thor seemed surprised, as far as he knew the Alterra had always punished those who had done wrong.

"The Vanir did what they thought best to save your race. Over time they will atone for their crimes against the humans in Pegasus. I suggest that you make sure to integrate them back into your society."

"Our society will be in chaos for many years when we begin to put our people back into bodies, because of my actions. I am not sure that I can integrate them into what will come from this, I will be exiled for going against the orders of the High Council." Somehow Thor's large black eyes were sad.

"Perhaps this is the best time to welcome the Vanir back, to create a society that can unite the Asgard as a race?" Mokar said and Thor nodded in acceptance.

"You have a suggestion?"

Mokar nodded. "If the Vanir respect the Alterra as highly as you do would they then allow the Alterra to be mediators with the Asgard? To allow us to provide neutral ground where the Vanir and the Asgard can talk and finish these bodies?"

"You do not think these bodies will solve our problem?"

"I think that the Vanir must have made some progress over the years, perhaps they have not solved the deterioration but they may have solved other things or they may have improved their bodies in other ways."

"Perhaps they have, it has been a long time since we first began to exile them. As always it seems the Alterra are the wisest. With your words the Vanir will not be hard to convince."

"I will have Atlantis move this station. Thanks to Loki we have managed to map out the area of space that the Vanir have tried to conceal."

"I am glad that Loki's work is useful, though I am not sure that we need to utilise Atlantis. The city has enough firepower to destroy any ships the Vanir posses, they will feel threatened."

"I will make sure the Vanir does not see it that way, Atlantis is there only to protect the station, which will be neutral ground."

Thor squinted and looked closely at Mokar. "There is another reason is there not? Your words were wise before, but Atlantis is not needed for such a simple task. At most you would need two or three warships. The Vanir posses no ships that can breach the shield of this station, even a fully powered Asgard ship would most likely not breach the shield without receiving critical damage in the process."

"Atlantis and her personnel has not been on an active assignment in a long time. It will be good for the crew to have something to do."

"This is a distraction for someone?" Thor was reading the expression on Mokar's face. After spending hundreds of years with Alterra, Lanteans and humans he was good at it. "Something has happened that you do not want someone on Atlantis to find out about?"

"I trust that this stays between the two of us?"

"Is there as reason it would not be?" Thor asked cautiously.

"It may affect you as well Thor. Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Jackson are missing after an explosion during a peace talk they were attending for the Alterra."

Thor looked down as he walked over to a console and begun to wake up the other Asgard in stasis. "I will see to it that Atlantis is kept occupied."

"Thank you Thor, I understand that this is not easy for you either. I will have Atlantis here as soon as I can, I hope none of your equipment is sensitive to hyperspace travel."

"We can use all Asgard equipment in hyperspace. As the explorers the Alterra taught us to be we spend much time in hyperspace, it would be unwise to have to shut down our equipment simply because we were in hyperspace."

"Good." Mokar activated the com badge and connected to Jack. "General O'Neill, I would like you to bring Atlantis to a secret space station where the Asgard have been working on their bodies. I need it moved, Atlantis has the stardrive which is the only hyperdrive powerful enough for the job."

There was almost a full minutes silence before Jack answered. -You want me to come to the station where the Asgard have worked on their bodies with Atlantis to move the station?-

Jack was sitting at his desk deep in Atlantis pondering what madness had taken Mokar. He took a few deep breaths before replying. "You want me to come to the station where the Asgard have worked on their bodies with Atlantis to move the station?"

-We have located a Vanir world, it is my hope that the creation of the new bodies will bring the Vanir back to the Asgard. To that end I want the Vanir to feel that they have helped with the bodies too, therefor I want Atlantis there to act as neutral ground and peacekeeper,- Mokar replied.

"Are we talking about the same grey guys who broke into Atlantis, kidnapped Daniel and McKay? Cause I'm quiet sure they're not on our side."

-Yes the exiled Asgard.-

"And why would we want them to have new bodies?"

-I would rather have the Asgard as a unified race of allies than have the Vanie roam the galaxy as a neutral faction that I have no way of keeping track of.-

Jack sighed. "If you're sure I'll prepare the city and leave the planet."

-Thank you General, the Asgard will be a great force in our back.-

"I know they used to be, I hope they still are, but you need to realise that these guys tried to kill themselves, finding out that they survived through the defiance of a handful of Asgard might throw them slightly of balance."

-Yes I know General, as your people say General, fingers crossed.-

"Yes fingers crossed." Jack took a few more deep breaths and checked the information about the explosion on Earth on his screen before speaking. "About what happened on Earth. If you are going to put me and Sam on the sidelines for this tell Teyla that we want the ones responsible for the explosion on Earth brought here alive."

-Of course General, I was simply trying to spare you the pain of a dead friend before we know who is responsible for this.-

"Sure, but Daniel and Sheppard have a strange tendency to come out on the other side alive."

-Then I hope it will stay that way.-

Jack shut of the com badge. "I hope so too." He got out of the chair and walked up to the mirror to check his uniform. When he was happy with the way it looked he put on his military face and set the combadge to transmit through the city's internal speakers. "This is General O'Neill. Atlantis will be leaving this planet for a diplomatic mission. The head of each department is to rapport to me once you are ready."

He stepped out of his office and nodded towards the small line of people standing ready for their turn to meet with him. In an instant they turned around and hurried away, he followed closely behind them and then hurried up two levels when they got to the stair case. Five guards stood in front of the door to the chair room when he got there but they all stepped aside and the door opened for him. He stepped up to the control chair in the center of the room and sat down, it leaned backwards and holograms with stats of the city begun to float around his head. He focused on the protocol for take off and a holographic list appeared in front of him with everything he needed to do before take off. Starting with the inertial dampeners and the shield he sent power to each system in order to check that they worked as they should.

It took almost three hours before Jack got the all clear from each of the department heads, mostly because with Rodney gone Radek was in charge of the science department and he in turn was away on another assignment, leaving the department slightly chaotic. By the time everyone was finally ready a team of engineers and scientists had gathered in the chair room to oversee the move and assist Jack if needed.

With everyone done Jack poured power into the stardrive and a cloud of vapor formed around the city. Ever so slowly the city rose up from the ocean but it took several minutes before the city gained any noticeable momentum and broke free of the planet's gravity. As soon as they had cleared the atmosphere a hyperspace window opened and the city lept into hyperspace. With all systems in the city repaired Atlantis was hurling through hyperspace at an impressive speed and they stayed in hyperspace for only a few minutes before dropping out below the station.

Jack activated the com badge. "We are in position. How do you want to do this?"

-I will activate tractor beams and pull the station into place between the piers of Atlantis,- Mokar replied. He did as he said and used the tractor beams of the station to pull the station towards Atlantis.

When the station's shield came into contact with Atlantis' shield they merged for a few minutes before the station was fully inside and shut down its own shield, relying fully on Atlantis' shield. When the station lowered into place between two of the piers arms reached out from Atlantis and gripped onto the station, holding it tightly in place for the hyperspace jump to come.

"Everything is green on this side," Jack said.

-Same here, bring us into hyperspace. I've uploaded the coordinates,- Mokar replied.

In front of Jack a hologram displayed the coordinates and all the data he could ever need about the hyperspace jump. "I have them here, stand ready to enter hyperspace." Jack activated the stardrive and Atlantis and the station vanished into hyperspace.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay, life has to come first some times.

Mokar was standing in the control room of the station with Thor, Heimdall, Loki, Hermoid and Keller, of course Rodney was also somewhere on the station, but since he was still dead as far as most people knew he was still not allowed to communicate with the outside world and as a precaution Mokar had made sure he stayed far away from the control room at the moment. Far below the station was the planet where the wraith debris had been tracked. Just like when Mokar had taken a fleet into Vanir space it was dark outside the shield, but this time the Alterran sensors gave an image of the surrounding space.

"Open a channel to the surface. Make sure they see both me and the Asgard," Mokar ordered. Straight away the Asurans manning the station did as ordered and a holographic screen filled with static appeared in front of him, it took a few seconds before an Asgard appeared on the screen.

-What do you want?- the Asgard asked. Somehow the monotone voice sounded angry.

"We have an offer for the Vanir."

-The Vanir does not wish to trade with humans, even the ones who control Atlantis. You have seen what our ships can do, your great shield can not defend your city.-

"Perhaps the Vanir had the knowledge to do that while humans ruled the city, with an Alterran like myself controlling the city you have no chance to get through the shield. But it is not the Alterra who has an offer for you."

Mokar stepped back and allowed Thor to take his place.

"I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet. The Asgard wish to work with the Vanir to solve the problems with our degrading bodies."

-We already know that the Asgard killed themselves when they failed to solve the problem with our bodies. So who are you really?-

"You are correct Vanir, the Asgard tried to kill themselves. As Supreme Commander it is my duty to make sure that the Asgard perform their duties as they should. Therefor I made sure that the Asgard would be preserved until the team I have picked have solved the problem."

-Then you are Supreme Commander only in name Thor. Many of the Vanir have been exiled here from the Asgard by you, I do not think the Vanir council will accept any offer.-

"Yet you have not informed them, either the Vanir council is not in control or you are part of it."

The Vanir squinted. -You are clever Thor, that I must give you. I am Councilor Mimir. You may come with the Alterra to the surface, only you two will be allowed to land. I will summon the rest of the council and hear what you have to offer.- A set of coordinates appeared in front of Mimir's face.

"We shall be there," Thor said. Immediately Mimir vanished from the screen and the static returned.

"Have you prepared the ship?"Mokar asked the Asurans.

"We have just finished loading the clone into the ship," one of the Asurans replied.

"Is it ready?" Mokar asked.

"I just finished the countdown gene, so I'd say it is," Keller said.

"Good work, get me and Thor onto that ship," Mokar ordered. The Asurands activated the station's transporter and the colors of the room shifted around Thor and Mokar as they were transported onto the small Tracker-class scout ship. In the back of the ship a small stasis pod was holding a copy of clone XA-432, with an added gene to degrade the body after a few hours. Mokar mental connected to the ship and piloted it out of the station's hangar, they passed through the city's shield and headed down towards the planet. He cloaked the ship as they passed through the atmosphere of the planet, when they broke through the upper layer of the atmosphere the black outside the ship vanished and the grayish green gases of the atmosphere began to tumble by. It took several minutes before the outline of a large facility began to show, seconds after outlines of debris from wraith ships also began to show as they came closer to the ground. Several dozen bright green lights ignited in front of the ship and the ship's sensors detected a guidance signal that Mokar allowed the ship to follow. The ship followed the lights and the signal and passed through a shield into the facility. The walls were dark iron with mixed sections of biological wraith elements. A single Vanir was standing inside the hangar. It waited while the ship landed and the ramp lowered. Mokar walked out with Thor at his side and the stasis pod followed after them.

"I am Mimir. Come this way, the Vanir council is waiting," the Vanir said.

"This is a prototype of an Asgard body, as a precaution it is set to degrade quickly. Your people can analyze it freely, but the genes will soon be unusable," Mokar informed and mentally stopped the stasis pod in its tracks.

Mimir's eyes shrunk to small slits. "It is functional?"

"It has not been tested yet, however it will already be too degraded to function."

"I see, I will have our scientist study it." Mimir walked towards a door and led the two through winding corridors deeper into the facility. It stopped outside a large cast iron door. "You shall enter here, the rest of the council will wait for you."

Thor turned his head to the side and looked at Mimir. "You will not be there?"

"There are but a few of us in this facility. I must take detailed scans of the body before more damage is done to it. I will come when my duties allow me." The door opened and Mimir walked away while Mokar stepped inside with Thor. The inside of the room was more in line with traditional Asgard design, light gray supports and slightly red walls. A curved screen covered the far wall and several Asgard faces were shown on it. Mokar stayed just inside the door and let Thor walk up to the screen.

-To see one of our brethren here is strange,- one of the Vanir said. -Mimir has informed us that you are Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet.-

"That title is mine. However the domain of the Asgard has fallen."

-Then what hope does the Supreme Commander have of solving a problem the Asgard and the Vanir have struggled with for longer than anyone of us can remember?-

"The Alterra have offered us their help. Already we believe that we have a functional prototype."

-Why do you come here Thor if you possess a body that solves the problem?- another of the Vanir asked.

"It is my wish that the Asgard and the Vanir work together so that our new bodies become common ground from where the Asgard and the Vanir may go forward. The Vanir left because you did not think the High Council gave you the freedom you wished for to solve this issue, did you not?"

-Many of us left as you say Thor, but many have since come here in exile. It is regrettable that some humans have been killed or hurt in our experiments, but do not think we are sorry, their sacrifice was needed to save the Asgard as a race,- the first Vanir said.

"I do not wish for you to make excuses or show remorse, I wish to work with the Vanir to create a new generation of bodies that will mark a new beginning for the Asgard as a race so that we may continue forward united."

-We will need to await Mimir so that we may know how close you have come to a working body.-

Mokar stepped forward from the corner where he had stood and listened. "If I may make a suggestion, send a team of the leading scientist to the station I have brought into orbit and have them see how far the Asgard have come."

-To give our scientists to you willingly? The Vanir are not fools,- one of the more purple Vanir said.

"This is an internal matter within the Asgard race, is it not?" Mokar asked, he could see how two, maybe three of the Vanir reacted.

-It would not matter, it is clear that the Vanir will not have your favor.-

-You know little of the Alterra, Villi,- one of the Vanir who had been silent said. -The laws of the Alterra allow them not to interfere in the internal matters of a race unless one side has asked them to assist, then they may only do what is needed to establish a lasting peace. There are times when they may take a side in an internal conflict but if their laws have not changed many of the Vanir or the Asgard will have to die or the Alterra may not interfere.-

-Njorer, you say the Alterra can be trusted?- the first Vanir asked.

-We will need to be careful about the details of this arrangement. We need to know what is the Alterra's, what is Thor's, what is ours and what is shared for their laws to be upheld correctly. It was a long time since I last worked with an Alterra but they have always been honorable towards the Asgard,- Njorer said.

"It is a relief that some of the Vanir and Asgard still remember the old laws. I have brought a space station here that is being deployed as we speak. The station belong to the Alterra and therefor is neutral ground, all material on the station that is not inside the private areas of the Asgard or the Vanir will be available for everyone to use and research. To be equal the Asgard and the Vanir will each have access to a private clone lab to produce and test solutions, a shared lab will also be provided. On the station I will allow four members of the Asgard and four members of the Vanir at any time until you have finished the project or if both the Asgard and the Vanir agree to another number. The Alterra will provide everything needed on the station, including DNA samples coming from humans, Lanteans and Alterra. Live subjects will not be allowed on the station. The details I will leave up to the Asgard and the Vanir."

-I will prepare a ship and come to your station to personally oversee these details,- Njorer promised. -If anyone on the council wish to debate this or protest you are free to not use any bodies this venture produce.-

-The council will not take action without a vote,- one of the Vanir protested.

The door opened behind Mokar and Thor and Mimir stepped into the room. "I have finished a first scan of the body. The genome contains several strains of alien DNA but they are too degraded to be of any use to our research, but a fresh genome from this race would be most useful."

"The station houses several hundred genomes coming from this race, you have free access to them on the station," Mokar said.

-I call for a vote,- Njorer said. Half of the Vanir on the screen gained a green border while the other gained a red border.

"I vote for the Supreme Commanders offer," Mimir said, tipping the scales in their favour.

-We shall get to work, my ship will arrive soon,- Njorer said. His section of the screen went black.

"I shall allow the council to pick the two other Vanir who will work with the Asgard." Mimir turned to Mokar. "If I may I will join you on your return to the station."

"We can depart at once," Thor said.

Mokar's com activated. -We have a message from the Jaffa, Teal'c will be arriving soon.-

The door opened as Mokar approached it and he tapped his combadge to reply. "I will be back soon."

 **###**

The small Tracker ship had just landed in the hangar with Mokar, Thor and Mimir on board when the sensors detected an energy spike coming from deep inside the station.

"It seems Doctor McKay has began another test. Thor will you contact Doctor Keller and have her show our guest here to the section we reserved for the Vanir?" Mokar asked.

"I will do so and join you in Doctor McKay's lab, he must be close to a breakthrough before performing a test here," Thor replied.

"Or he may just have run out of planets to test on." A moment later Mokar vanished as he mentally activated the station's transporter and transported down to Rodney's lab.

It was a large control room deep inside the research station with dozen of consoles and a control chair, the station's second one, in the center. Rodney was standing next to one of the terminals yelling orders. Around them Asurans manned the terminals and in front of them was a large glass window leading to the latest version of the Arcturus chamber.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Mokar asked. He did not like the fact that Rodney had chosen to construct this version of Arcturus inside the station.

"Yes, the test we just ran showed that the containment fields hold up to ninety six percent. The final field I just added should make sure that we can run the generator well above designed output." Confidently Rodney flipped the switch to once again activate the generator. Slowly the generator activated and began to build up energy inside. Through the glass the two watched the spectacle of light inside the containment chamber. A chime was heard as the door to the room opened. Thor stepped inside and came towards them.

"I heard that you are performing a test on the new generator here on the station, if we are to die I would like to see how we are going to die."

"Come on, it's working. We're not going to die," Rodney complained. Slowly a gauge next to the glass increased as the generator inched towards design capacity. They stood there and watched, waiting as the generator pumped energy into the station's capacitor.

"Good work Doctor McKay," Mokar praised as they crossed the ninety six percent threshold. A few seconds later it stopped at a hundred percent.

"Told you it would work."

"So you have said many times Doctor McKay, each time you have blown up a solar system or more," Thor said. He was satisfied with the result and walked out of the room.

"Well it works this time and we're alive," McKay replied.

"Have you managed to sort out the downsides to the generator?" Mokar asked.

"No, not yet. For some reason it overloads if it moves more than a few meters, so it has to be fitted to a ship or a station and only be activated when it is entirely stationary. And there's the problem with running more than one at a time, they start to draw from each other once we go over five percent, it could have something to do with the unique subspace signature of our universe that the generator is set to use. But given time I will figure it all out," McKay assured.

"This one will do for now Doctor." Mokar flipped a switch and turned it off. "I think it's time I let you return to civilisation."

"About time, I can't imagine what Zelenka has done to Atlantis while I was gone."

"We're going to install the generator first. Your quarantine is lifted, but you don't leave the generator until it's installed." He got his communicator out of his pocket and activated it. "Colonel Carter, do you hear me?"

He had the Nest positioned so that it was above the galactic plane and only hoped that the signal would reach the ship without him having to redirect one of the subspace relays of the station.

###

Carter was sitting on the half finished bridge of the Nest, diagnosing one of the left plasma cannons, when her communicator activated and there were no problems with the signal. -Colonel Carter do you hear me?- Mokar asked.

"Yes Sir," Sam replied. He had told her that she would need to bring the ship to him to install the generator but as a precaution she kept the Nest in deep space to avoid the wraith and any other hostile ships until the ship was fully powered.

-I am transmitting coordinates to you, bring the ship here as soon as you can.-

She brought up the transmission on her terminal and checked the coordinates. "We can be there soon. I just need some time to finish up diagnostic on the hyperspace engines."

-Get here as soon as you can, the generator is ready to be installed.-

"Yes Sir, we will do our best." She stood up and turned to the small crew on the ship. "I take it everyone heard that?" She got a series of nods. "Get going then, I don't see anyone working on the engine diagnose." Straight away the crew got back to work and she could see four of them starting the same diagnose. "Morisson, you do the diagnose, you other three leave it be or help her. Don't run four diagnoses on the engines parallel men, we're all professionals so act like it."

 **###**

"Carter to Mokar," Sam said into her combadge a few hours later . She was sitting in the main control chair of the Nest and felt the power of the ship pulsing through her even when it was running on emergency power, only a few naquadah generators and three ZPMs which in itself was a lot of energy, but the capacitors that the ship was meant to run on when not powered by the Arcturus generator had a capacity of several hundred ZPMs. The ship was barely flying, minimal shields and no weapons but it was still pulsating with power. "We are approaching the new coordinates. We will be there in a few minutes."

-Good. Long story short, Doctor McKay has been in charge of the project, so I will let you talk to him,- Mokar replied.

-We will prepare the generator for installation,- McKay's voice sounded almost immediately.

"Is that you Rodney? How?" Sam asked.

-That's a story for another time Colonel Carter,- Mokar said.

"Alright. Our sensors are still being calibrated so I'd like you to patch me into the stations sensors and give me an exact set of coordinates for our return." They would need to have the Arcturus generator installed before they could calibrate anything on the ship to work properly. A few seconds later she felt McKay's mind entering the chair's system when he activated the control chair on the station and she hurried to shield her mind from him. Through the link between the chairs he pushed a feed, she grabbed it and tied it into the ship's computers. McKay had marked a large area that was right next to both Atlantis and the station.

Two minutes later the huge ship broke through the hyperspace barrier, next to it the station was dwarfed. She felt McKay reaching for the Nest's tractor beams and she transferred control of them to him. Through the sensor feed she felt a section of the station opening and a large piece, the Arcturus generator, being pushed away from the station towards the Nest. When the generator was free from the station's shield tractor beams on both the ship and the station began to move it towards the docking bay that was carved into the top of the ship. As the generator came closer they could all see it through the large window on the front of the bridge. A kilometer in front of the bridge the generator stopped and she felt McKay return control of the tractor beams before he cut the connection between the chairs.

-Do you want me to come over there and help with the installation?- McKay asked.

"Did you build it according to the specifications I gave Mokar?" Sam asked back.

-Yes, all external connections should match exactly.-

"Then we will be fine, it should plug and play."

-This isn't a USB drive.-

"We'll be fine Rodney."

She returned her focus to the generator and grabbed it with the tractor beams, with great care she lowered it through the hangar shield and down onto the huge metal sled that was waiting. Large clamps locked around the generator and the sled retracted back into the ship through a giant hole the Asurans had created for this purpose. The moment the sled was through the first wall the Asurans hurried to seal the hole. They would seal the eighty five walls they had to bring the generator through. In the heart of the ship the generator was locked in place and the engineers there began to connect it to the ship's systems. Even now they were in orbit and therefore moving so they would need to wait before they could power it up. But still the generator was connecting every part of the ship and the systems were finally getting all the energy they needed. Through her Alterran powers she could feel Jack's awe when she sent power to all systems and he saw the ship glowing to life from Atlantis.

Sam pressed her combadge and linked it to Mokar's. "Carter here, unless we are needed somewhere I will set a course for a point above the galactic plane where the generator can be tested."

-There's an asteroid field in a nearby system where you can pick up some targets for target practise. Meet up with Larrin's fleet when you are done and do some live testing, she seems to always have a new wraith fleet in her sight.-

"Will do." She shut of her com badge and aligned the Nest for a jump to the asteroid field.


	5. Chapter 4

On the bridge of her Retributor Katana walked back and forth. Outside the ship the huge supergate was sitting idly by and twenty six engineers in Alterran space suits were walking along the surface.

"Doctor Zelenka, how long is this going to take?" Katana asked her communicator.

-Calm down Captain. We are all working as fast as we can.- Radek's voice was taxed.

"We've been here for six days Doctor. I don't like staying in one place for any longer periods of time, you promised that you would be done today."

-As I said, we are working as fast as we can. These are complicated systems that we are trying to modify to suite our needs.-

Several minutes passed. -We are finished Captain.-

"About time Doctor." She gestured towards a technician and Radek, still in a spacesuit, appeared in a white flash right next to her on the bridge.

"Is everyone returned from the gate?" Radek asked.

"Yes Doctor," a technician replied.

"Stand ready to activate the gate," Radek ordered.

"Standing by Doctor," a technician said.

A man helped Radek off with the helmet and hurried away with it. Radek pressed a few buttons on the control pad on the left arm of his suit. "Activate it."

Outside the ship the supergate came to life. Ripples of energy danced across the surface of the gate for a few seconds before one of the segments was vaporised by the energy. In the darkness behind the gate a new segment activated and moved in to take the free space. When it locked into place it sent an activation signal through the rest of the segments before the gate once again went inactive.

"Is that it Doctor?" Katana asked.

"Yes, it seems that the new segment has updated the software of the supergate. If the Ori tries to dial in from their galaxy this gate will force the connection here no matter which gate they try to dial. As long as we can hold this gate we have created a bottleneck for them."

"Then we can leave?"

"Soon." Radek pressed another button on his suite. "I have informed fleet command of our success. They will attempt to dial up the gate and send a ship through."

"How long?" she was getting slightly agitated.

"They are doing it right now Captain." Radek stared at the readings on the small screen on the left arm of his suit.

In front of them an energy surge flowed through the gate and the event horizon formed.

-Doctor Zelenka can you hear me?- a voice sounded through Radek's com badge.

"Yes. We have a stable connection."

-Copy that Doctor. We are coming through.-

"We should give them some room Captain," Radek said.

"Of course Doctor." She nodded towards the pilot and the supergate shrunk as the Retributor backed away.

It took a few moments before the newest addition to the Alterran fleet arrived through the gate. The new Sable-class was about two hundred meters long, seventy meters high and five hundred meters wide. Behind it followed several of the upgraded Traveler generation ships.

"Why would you send our ships here? They are not suited to combat the ships of the Ori," Katana asked.

"They are only here as transport ships. They will return to Pegasus as soon as they have unloaded their cargo," Radek replied. When the supergate closed Radek pressed a button on the control pad and the supergate began to dial.

-Doctor McKay, Doctor Zelenka, we need to meet,- Mokar said through Radek's com badge.

-Sure, just give me an hour to sort out Zelenka's mistakes down in engineering and we can meet,- Rodney replied.

"Rodney? Is that you? How are you not dead?" Radek asked in surprise, as far as he knew Rodney had been killed when the S.E.N began their attacks on the Alterra.

-No need to sound so disappointed Zelenka.-

-You will have plenty of time to catch up later,- Mokar reminded them.

"Yes yes. We are returning to Pegasus in a few moments."

Larrin took the cue and the ship slipped through the active supergate to Pegasus.

When the Retributor had left through the gate the Sable, the lead ship of its class, began its work. The Traveler ships hurried to drop of their cargo before rushing through the supergate after the Retributor. The large grey cargo-pods spread out around the gate under their own power and opened up to reveal large weapon platforms, a single one in each, at its core were three beam weapons, similar to the one mounted on the defense satellites around Lantia, and around them a drone hold had been fitted. A second type of weapon platforms built around a single APB also moved away from the cargo-pods. Both types spread out around the supergate while cloaking. Several of the cargo-pods simply cloaked and moved out, they were simply large drone holds that would ambush any ships passing too close. Finally the Sable took up an advantageous position above the supergate and cloaked to wait for the Ori to come.

 **###**

The first thing Rya'c saw when he came through the gate was the handful of Travelers that Mokar had sent there in advance. They had already constructed a small group of grey Alterran buildings where they would live while they assisted and taught the Jaffa. The Jaffa would have to build everything else themselves.

"So this is where the Jaffa will live?" Kar'yn, Rya'c's wife, asked. In the distance she could see a group of wild beasts roaming at the edge of the forest.

"It is where Master Bra'tac and my father have chosen to take the Jaffa, it will be but one of many worlds when we have built a large enough settlement here."

"You're leading the Jaffa here Rya'c, not your father or Master Bra'tac."

One of the Travelers walked up to the two. "Welcome. Will more follow?"

"They will come in groups when they are ready," Rya'c said. "These are the first."

"That's fine. If you would come with me we need to get you off Tretonin. Teal'c and Bra'tac feel it is best that you are not addicted to anything." He led them into one of the Alterran houses and the other Jaffa followed, it was a single large room with several platforms spread over the floor. The Traveler walked up to the single console in the room. "If you would step up on one of the platforms each I can start the work."

Rya'c strode forward and stepped up on one of the platforms and Kar'yn came a second later. He saw the worry in her eyes and reached out to grab her hand. "Kept your hands inside the platform," the Traveler ordered. Hesitantly the other Jaffa walked up to the platforms and stood there waiting.

Everyone stood there in silence as a hologram of their genome appeared around them and began to change as the Traveler made the changes necessary. Only a few minutes later the holograms around Rya'c and Kar'yn vanished.

"Is it done?" Rya'c asked.

"Yes, you two are done," the Traveler replied. "You need to take Tretonin for a few more days but by the time your pouches have grown together you will have a immune system ready to take over and you can stop taking Tretonin. The changes Bra'tac has decided on will make sure that you will still feel as if you carry a symbiot or take Tretonin."

"Thank you, I am sure there will be more Jaffa coming soon. Do you know where the tents have been placed?" Rya'c asked.

"We have already raised several tents for you behind this building. I am sure you can find them yourselves."

"We will get settled."

Rya'c turned towards the door but the Traveler stopped him. "You will find datapads in all the tents, Mokar has loaded them with a list of things you may wish to do to get this colony going. Once I have treated your men the datapads will recognise them and show any tasks you have assigned to them or the village. It is the same system used by the Alterra themselves."

"I will inspect it." Rya'c bowed and walked out of the building with Kar'yn at his side. A second group of Jaffa had arrived through the gate and they bowed when Rya'c walked up to them. "None of you are less than twice my age and have gained many times what little honour I have earned. There is no need for you to bow to me."

"I will go and find a place among the tents for us," Kar'yn said and walked away.

One of the oldest Jaffa stepped in front of the group. "Battle hardened Jaffa like us are not needed here, the Jaffa need young and agile minds ready to learn. That is the reason you lead us now Rya'c and the reason we bow to you, here you are the master and we the novices. Our minds are set in stone, but we will work harder to compensate. You tell us what you wish done and we will see to it. The hard work is ours to bear."

"I will let you know what we need done when I know, for now we should get settled in. A man awaits you in the house there, he will see to it that you need not rely on Tretonin. Until we have constructed houses we sleep in tents behind that building. If you wish for tasks come see me when you have been treated."

"I am not using Tretonin, my symbiote still lives, what will I do?" one of the Jaffa asked.

"Go ask the man inside, I am sure they have considered the symbiotes," Rya'c replied.

"Right away."

Rya'c watched the older Jaffa walk away towards the Alterran building before he himself walked around it to find the tents. To him the tents looked nothing like tents, they were as large as some of the houses the Jaffa used to live in but with dozens of fold-up beds inside. The roofs of the tents were made entirely from solar panels and a comfortable gush of air was pumping silently out of each tent.

He peaked into some of the empty tents until he found Kar'yn. She was sitting on one of the beds, searching through a grey box.

"So is this the tent you have choosen for us?" Rya'c asked from the entrance.

"Well they're all the same, so why not this one?" she answered, still searching through the box.

"This will do fine. Have you seen any of the datapads he spoke about?"

"There seems to be one on each bed."

"Then I will take the one from the bed next to yours." He walked up to the bed next to where she had placed her things and found the datapad lying inside a package of towels and clothes. As he grabbed the datapad it came to life and brought up a list of tasks, he pressed the well icon and a map of the general area appeared on the screen, on it he could see several Jaffa arriving through the Stargate and another group of Jaffa coming towards the tents. He touched a location on the map where he thought a well would be good to have, instantly a small well icon appeared on the map. A few seconds later a second well appeared a few hundred meters away with a tooltip predicting more water and easier work there. Another tap and Rya'c accepted the system's suggestion and was shown a screen with five Jaffa suggested for the assignment, Rya'c recognised one of the names and accepted the suggestion before starting to allocate land near the well to farming. Next he placed several wooden houses some distance from the Stargate where they could build a first settlement. As he was doing so a Jaffa stepped inside the tent.

"Master Rya'c." The Jaffa bowed deeply.

"Rya'c will suffice. What is it?" Rya'c asked.

"We were informed that these metal plates will assist us in organising. Is that so?" He held out one of the datapads. "This one has instructions to bring several strange tools from one of the Alterran buildings and go to a place in a valley."

"Yes, they will assist us so that we do not waste our efforts. These metal plates, relay my orders, follow them as such. If you have suggestions I am glad to hear them. Do you see the snake with a dot beneath? It is called a question mark and you can press it to gain more information about your task."

"Then we will see to our work Master Rya'c." The Jaffa bowed again as he backed out of the tent. There were plenty of voices outside as the Jaffa vanished, Rya'c checked the map on the datapad and could see almost all of the Jaffa hurrying away from his tent.

 **###**

-General Carter, we are at the rendezvous point,- Larrin's voice sounded from Sam's com badge.

"Copy that, we'll arrive in a few moments," Sam replied. She was sitting in the control chair of the Nest as it rushed through hyperspace towards a know wraith outpost and the rendezvous that she had set up with Larrin and her fleet. "I'm transmitting coordinates for your ships to line up on for a quick docking."

-Docking?- Larrin asked surprised.

"The Nest is a carrier, we will carry your two ships into battle."

-That's not going to happen,- Larrin protested.

"This is just a test run to make sure it can carry ships into battle. You can have your shields online the entire ride in case we blow up this ship. As soon as we leave hyperspace you are free to deploy again. I have my orders and you have yours, I come and pick you up. You dock and my ship pulls you through hyperspace to the wraith outpost. Once there you are free to do whatever you wish to."

There was only silence in response as the Nest dropped out of hyperspace far away from anything. In the darkness of space Larrin's two Retributors had lined up nicely right above their exit point, carefully Sam raised her ship towards the two ships and let them slide into the dock on top of the Nest using the ship's tractor beams.

"Larrin, have your ships been secured to the deck?" Sam asked.

-The docking clamps have locked our ships into place, I don't like being stuck here so make it quick,- Larrin answered.

"It's just a few seconds through hyperspace, you'll be fine. Once in normal space the shield of this ship is unbreachable." With her mind Sam urged the ship forward and the ship's hyperdrive activated, sending the ship hurtling through hyperspace for less than five seconds before returning to normal space. The moment the Nest left hyperspace Larrin's Retributor hurried to leave the dock and the other followed moments later.

It took a few seconds for the eight hive ships in the system to respond to their arrival but they soon turned towards the three ships.

"Stand ready to activate the generator," Sam ordered. Through the chair she felt her crew activating the generators stabilisers and the maneuvering thrusters of the Nest to make sure that the Arcturus generator would stay in exactly the same place. Once the generator was active the three beam weapons on the top of the Nest deployed. It took a few seconds for the generator to power up but when it was at full power it sent power directly to the weapons' buffer. A few moments later the three weapons all fired at the same time, each one cut through a hive and one of the beams residual energy destroyed two of the escorting cruisers. From the Retributors short streams of drones flew out towards the wraith fleet.

"The wraith are deploying darts," someone reported.

"Deploy countermeasures," Sam ordered. "Remember to set them to automatic unless we have someone behind the controls." The ship had room for thousands of unmanned crafts, either controlled by pilots, which there were now but a few of on the ship, or by the ship's on board AI.

"Deploying now." Through tunnels leading to the internal hangar bay hundreds of crafts, some small and some large, deployed and headed for the swarm of darts that were coming straight for the three Alterran ships. As soon as the darts came in range of the fighters that the Nest had deployed, the Hornets and the Wasps, the fighters fired with their railguns and plasma turrets. The wraith darts began to explode as the plasma bolts and railgun rounds cut through them.

When the wraith darts began to fire back the larger Hornets moved forward and began to soak up as much of the fire as possible to protect the unshielded Wasps. It was complete chaos when the two swarms collided, or at least it looked as such. In reality the Alterran ships were quickly forming into squads to hunt down packs of darts. When the darts tried to flank the squads the Alterran fighters simply turned their weapons in their mounts towards the darts and blew them away. But still it only took the darts a few minutes to use their numbers to destroy all of the Alterran fighters. When that happened Sam activated the anti fighter turrets of the Nest, quickly they tore through the darts and annihilated their numbers. Losing the fighters was simply a means to compare them with the darts and Sam was more than happy with the results. Now it was time to end the battle. She poured all the power the ship could spare into the three beam weapons and they sent out three continuous beams of energy that cut straight through the remaining three cruisers, all of the other ships had already been taken care of by the Retributors, leaving the wraith outpost on the surface defenseless.

-We've got a hull breach,- Larrin said the moment the last ship was destroyed. -We're heading back to Atlantis for repairs.-

"Just dock in the bay of my ship, you can do the repairs you need to seal the hull and get back to Athyl for full repairs later."

There was a minute of silence. -Fine.-

Sam turned off the com badge. "Have the away team prepare for departure, I want that outpost captured."

Sam barely had time to give the order before a large explosion destroyed the facility and left a large crater on the surface.

"The facility appears to have self destructed," the woman manning one of the sensor consoles said.

"Yes I can see that thank you," Sam said calmly. "Now if it's not too much asking I would like the away team to get going and see if they can scavenge something."

"Yes Ma'am."


	6. Chapter 5

Teal'c and Bra'tac was walking among the tents of the huge settlement that had grown up around the city ship. Only the central spire of the city had been standing when they had landed the city but now the Asurans had repaired several of the towers and facilities in the city so that the Jaffa could live somewhat civilised. Almost a thousand Jaffa had moved into the city but several hundred thousand Jaffa still lived in the tents and food sent from Pegasus was starting to run thin.

"We will need more food, the Jaffa are coming here in too large numbers," Teal'c said.

"I am aware of that. We will also need a larger city, even if it is an Alterran city it can not house all these Jaffa," Bra'tac said. A kid kicked a ball across their path and a hoard of kids rushed after it and it was truly a hoard because in the camp four out of five Jaffa were kids.

"It seems there are many problems with our infrastructure," Teal'c said.

"You know well that our problems will only grow in size. There are millions of Jaffa who are waiting for a chance to come here, we will need to expand to other worlds to find food for our people," Bra'tac said.

"I will talk to Mokar about the food and the housing. We should avoid expanding here in the Milky Way, Pegasus is where our future lies," Teal'c said.

"Moving all Jaffa through the gate to Pegasus will take time, things will be very crowded here for some time," Bra'tac said.

"I agree, perhaps it is time we began in Pegasus so that things get done. We have already chosen a planet where the Jaffa can build a new civilisation. Mokar has been hoarding supplies for the Jaffa on the planet for months, it will be enough to create a city for several thousand Jaffa. The Alterra have promised to teach the Jaffa, but they will not build our houses for us. It will be a long climb uphill for the Jaffa," Teal'c said.

"The Jaffa are warriors taught to fight to death, it will not be easy to teach the Jaffa to build rather than destroy," Bra'tac said.

"It will not, the task is a hard one, but one that you will handle well Old Man. How much Tretonin do we have in storage?" Teal'c said.

"Tretonin will not be a problem for the weeks to come, but as the symbiots die everyone will need to receive it soon," Bra'tac said.

"It is good that the Alterra will teach or this would be even harder," Teal'c said.

"I would prefer that the Jaffa not rely on the Alterra for everything. I will not have the Jaffa exchange the Goa'uld for the Alterra as masters," Bra'tac said.

Teal'c frowned. "I do not think it is in the interest of Mokar or the Alterra to enslave the Jaffa and I will not allow the Jaffa to be enslaved again. I believe the Alterra does not see the Jaffa as slaves or people to be used. The Jaffa are a hoard of primitive warriors while the Alterra are a few advanced scientists. The Alterra needs our numbers as much as we need their resources and knowledge but they do not seek to dominate."

"You are wise Teal'c, still we will be cautious."

"I will need to return to Atlantis soon, have you decided on who will lead things here when you lead the Jaffa to Pegasus?"

"I was hoping that you would still take that position Teal'c."

"I have five explorative frigates and a small fleet of scout ships that will soon move out of dock, I will be needed there to take command."

"It seems I have to take the second best then, but it will be Rya'c who leads the Jaffa to Pegasus, I shall stay here. It will be a good way for him to create a name for himself that does not rely on your fame."

"Rya'c will serve you well as a second in command Old Man. I know that he is unhappy living in the shadow of my fame, but I am sure that he will make us both proud."

"He truly is your son Teal'c, he will not fail us."

An Asuran ran up to the two, it stopped a few meters away and waited for almost two minutes. Patiently Bra'tac and Teal'c waited for it to move, finally a Jaffa came running down the same road. He stopped just next to the Asuran and gasped for air for a few seconds. "Master Teal'c, Lord Bra'tac." The Jaffa bowed deeply.

"As you can tell it is more efficient to send an Asuran," the Asuran said.

"Return to your station," Bra'tac ordered. The Asuran bowed before it hurried away from them back towards the city.

"Speak," Teal'c ordered.

"We received a message for you Master Teal'c. Construction has almost finished at Athyl, a crew for the ships has been selected and will be arriving shortly. The ships will depart within the week."

"Inform Atlantis that I will be there soon," Teal'c said.

"Of course." The Jaffa bowed and hurried back towards the city.

"It seems I must leave urgently," Teal'c said and took a step towards the city but Bra'tac held him back.

"You will stay here for the night Teal'c, gather the Jaffa you wish to accompany you and I will prepare a ceremony for your departure."

Teal'c nodded. "So it shall be then, we will leave as the sun rise above the city," Teal'c said.

"I will see to it that we are ready. I will make sure Rya'c has his people ready to depart for Pegasus at the same time," Bra'tac answered.

"It seems that I have things to see to, I shall see you in the morning." Teal'c bowed his head and walked away among the tents to find the Jaffa that he wished to bring with him.

During the evening Teal'c would wander among the tents to find the Jaffa he wished to bring with him on the long journey. In another part of the tent city Rya'c informed his men of the news.

###

Come morning Rya'c was standing between two of the piers where the stargate had been temporarily moved along with Teal'c and Bra'tac and he was getting impatient after a sleepless night.

"Come on father, can we start already?" Rya'c asked.

Teal'c looked back at him for a while before looking towards the army of Jaffa who had gathered before them. "We may as well."

"Very well," Bra'tac said. He turned towards the Lantean technician who was standing next to a console by the gate. "Start the hologram."

On the piers two huge holograms appeared, one showed Bra'tac and the other Teal'c. Below them all of the gathered Jaffa was looking up at them in awe, even the ones the farthest away could clearly see and hear them.

"Brothers and sisters. You have been patient as you have waited, but now it is time for the Jaffa to move," Bra'tac's voice boomed out over the plains. "This day is a new beginning for the Jaffa, our Alterran allies have helped us with much and now it is time for the Jaffa to help them. Teal'c."

"Thank you Master Bra'tac." Teal'c bowed. "All that you see that you did not bring here have been provided by the Alterra. To repay their kindness I have gathered the warriors I trust the most for an expedition into an unknown region of space that the Alterra once inhabited. Warriors, you know what I expect of you and what you can expect of me, I will not promise that you all return, but we march forward into the unknown still." He padded Rya'c in the back and walked past him.

Teal'c's hologram was replaced by a hologram of the stargate and over a hundred Jaffa in front of it. Teal'c came walking up the side of the Jaffa, all wearing their grey Jaffa armours, and led them through the gate. One by one the Jaffa picked by Teal'c followed him through the gate until they were all through and the gate shut down. Then the hologram was replaced by a hologram of Rya'c who stood proud in one of the white Alterran made Jaffa armours.

Rya'c took a few seconds of silence before he spoke. "The Jaffa are warriors, but today we must become builders to ensure that the Jaffa can survive. We have found a new planet where we can grow our plants with ease and where children of the Jaffa can be raised without need to fear for their safety. Today I will be leading a band of Jaffa to this new planet. On this planet we have enough supplies for two thousand Jaffa to construct a settlement where our new civilization can grow. For those who feel that this challenge of change is for them I welcome you to join me on this venture. To show that you are committed to this the mark on your forehead will be replaced by a single silver circle, over time we will also have our dependence on symbiotes and Tretonin removed. I will step through the gate and begin work on our settlement, together with those I bring with me now I will await the arrival of the two thousand most courageous Jaffa." Rya'c bowed towards Bra'tac and as he walked towards the stargate it appeared on Rya'c's hologram. Thirty or so Jaffa followed after him through the gate straight away.

"When you are ready for this, approach the gate and it will send you to this new planet," Bra'tac said.

It took a few seconds before the first brave Jaffa came walking up between the two piers towards the gate. They each held a small bag that they had thrown together and an assortment of weapons.

###

When Teal'c came through the gate to Atlantis Mokar and Beckett waited for them on the balcony above.

"You picked out the people you want?" Mokar asked Teal'c. With Beckett in tow he walked through the control room and down the stairs to the gate room that was quickly filling up with Jaffa, behind him Beckett followed.

"Yes they all follow me through the gate here. Doctor Beckett would you see to it that they will not be dependant on Tretonin and that they bear the mark of Bra'tac?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes with this many it will take some time but I will see to it." Beckett stepped by Teal'c. "If you would all follow me I will examine you all and do what needs to be done." The Jaffa needed a nod from Teal'c before following.

"You mean the silver circle he choose to represent the Jaffa's alliance with the Alterra and the freedom they will have to travel where they wish?"

Teal'c let out a laugh. "The Old Man only said that it was a fitting mark for the Jaffa to bear into battle, he never explained why he choose it. But it seems to be fitting."

"I am glad Teal'c, but I can see that there is something else you wish to discus."

"We are having a hard time providing food for the Jaffa, what we receive from Pegasus has been spread thin and our hunters are having a hard time gathering additional food from the forest."

"It's not possible to produce any more food in our farms at the moment, we simply lack the people to do it."

Teal'c frowned. "You can create as many Asurans as you need, workers should not be a problem."

"The Alterra have laws against certain things. A long time ago a technology similar to the Asurans malfunctioned and accidentally wiped out an entire solar system due to food poisoning. Since then only certified AIs are allowed to handle automation of food pro-"

"The Jaffa would not need to follow the laws of the Alterra, with Asurans the Jaffa can have them grow food independently," Teal'c said. Mokar could tell that he was getting annoyed.

"That would be possible. But we can not create more Asurans, they require a rare substance called Neutronium that we have almost run out of. What little we have left is used to create our ships and repair the Tower. A great deal of the Asurans are made from this material, a single Asuran require more Neutronium than our entire working fleet."

Teal'c frowned again. "More can not be mined?"

"It's easily mined, but it is among the most rare substances we can find. I have already sent ships and probes to all the deposits that the Alterra knew about in Pegasus and the Milky Way. I have even sent probes and ships to the deposits that Thor gave me from the Asgard database, it seems the Asurans and the Replicators harvested all deposits."

"Then we must seek to find new deposits."

"Which is one of the reasons why I am sending the expedition even though there is fighting with the wraith and the Ori. Do you remember what I told you about the four galaxies you will be visiting?"

"Caari has a gate network that you can not access, you want a gate and a DHD to see why. Thuvalan is the galaxy where the Asgard originally evolved before moving to Ida and Othala, why they choose to leave seems to be lost to history. We have the coordinates to several of the worlds that the Asgard abandoned and you want any data we can retrieve from the planets. Sar and Lega are simply on the way there, but we have coordinates for old Alterran facilities in all four galaxies that we are to investigate."

"It's just as you say, I hope the Alterran facilities still hold the data about the planets in the galaxies. It could help us pinpoint important resources in these galaxies. But the safety of your expedition is our primary concern."

"You may not wish for it Mokar, but the Jaffa will live and die for those they serve, through me these Jaffa serve you."

"I hope it will not be necessary."

"So do I."

"How much more food would the Jaffa need each day?"

"Anything would be good, but several tons would be needed for it to matter."

"In those scales it would be easiest to grow it, I think we may need to send some of the Jaffa to assist at the farms, to teach them how to farm will not take too much time."

"The Jaffa will need to learn to do it eventually, they may as well start now. If you send word to Bra'tac I am sure he can have a group of Jaffa ready for the farms within a day."

"I will tell him, in the meantime we can provide the same system as used on our new starships. The Asgard have created a synthesizer to create whatever is needed from energy alone, drawing from the Towers ZPMs would mean an infinite source of food, but it will deplete the ZPMs in mere weeks, but it can supplement our thin supply lines. Before you ask me Teal'c, yes we can create Neutronium with these synthesizers, the small amount used in our ships can be created this way, but it will drain five or six, maybe even seven ZPMs to create enough Neutronium for a single Asuran."

"Very well, will Jaffa helping in the farms produce more food before the ZMPs run out?"

"As long as the Jaffa do not mind tasteless food there are several plants from Pegasus that grow in a matter of days. They can provide the food the Jaffa needs, but due to a rather disgusting taste and texture it is not something I would normally recommend."

"It will do. The Jaffa can not be picky, we will need to take what we get until the time comes when we can grow our own food."

"Then I will arrange for it."

"Can the synthesizers produce Tretonin?""

"Of course, it should be simple enough. It will drain the ZPMs somewhat more, in the long run it will be better if we restored your immune system and close your symbiot pouches."

"Good, we will need to do so soon, removing the pouches will be a great step towards freeing the minds of the Jaffa from the mental prisons that the Goa'uld created."

"I have already sent several Travelers with DNA resequencers to the new world, they will make sure to teach Rya'c's men how to use them and I will send more as we can produce them."

"That is good. But it is the old, the young and the sick who will need to be treated first, it will be long before they can come to Pegasus."

"Then I will instruct Bra'tac in its use and send a number to him. I assume that the Jaffa could use more tents, supplies and toys too?"

"It is as you say. Everything is running thin in the camp around the Tower, but I know well that it is so throughout the realm that you control."

"It is not I that control it, it is we who control it Teal'c, I am no tyrant. But yes, we are low on everything."

"We will be sure to scavenge everything that we find in the four galaxies."

"Unless it contains rare materials like Neutronium, Naquadria, Adarite, Trinium or superconductors in very large quantities it is not worth your time Teal'c. Data is what you need to look for. I will see to it that the Jaffa receive more supplies."

"As you say resources are thin, the Jaffa does not deserve more than anyone else."

"This new Alterran Empire that I am building will have to have resources to make sure those under our protection live well. The armies I hope the Jaffa will provide needs to be the most well equipped in the universe. Our ships needs to keep the crews safe at all cost. The cities we build needs to provide all that our population needs and the civilians should have all they require and more. That is the way I hope to rebuild the Alterran domain, that is the Alterran way, peace and victory through superior technology. Perhaps it is due time I give our infrastructure some thought."

"I think that few can compare already."

"Sadly I know well that the Ori will be more than a match for us. Their armies are already trained and they have ships that have proven themselves in battle, we have neither. There is also something strange with the way the wraith have combated the Atlantis expedition, they have gone into battle with only cruisers and hives. Cruisers are escorts to protect from smaller ships and the hives were used to supply larger fleets with humans. Something must have happened before the wraith stopped using their combat ships, their battleships could hold their own against the Alterran and Lantean ships. Two or three of these could have wiped out the Atlantis expedition, it is strange that the wraith wasted hives and cruisers. Is it not?"

"Perhaps they were of no use when the Lanteans were defeated? If they are too costly to maintain would it not be better to abandon them or scrap them? Perhaps the wraith can create them so fast that they need not have them ready if a conflict comes along, when a serious threat arise they begin construction and let the ships they have occupy the enemy until it is ready? Or the wraith have used them all fighting each other. There are many possibilities. What should concern us is if our ships will be able to combat these battleships?"

"We know that cruisers and hives can be built in a matter of weeks, but we have never studied or observed the construction of a battleship. We will have to be cautious with the wraith in the war to come. I have no doubts that the wraith will field battleships in the war to come, their hulls absorb most weapon fire, but a group of sustained energy beams focused on a single point can breach the hull. Several Sables could probably do it with their Asgard weapons, but I think Alterran beam weapons would be better, they were designed to combat these ships and their hulls. But that is no concern of yours Teal'c." Mokar reached into one of the pockets of his white robe and pulled out a piece of cloth wrapped around something. He held it out in front of Tea'c and folded away the cloth. Inside was one of the Alterran transformation stones that Languoreth, Mokar's ascended kin, had given him. Teal'c reached out for it but Mokar kept it out of reach. "This is an advanced piece of technology. It will change you into an Alterran without altering your appearance, you will gain the same powers as I have and perhaps a few of your own. Do you accept it?"

"Why give this to me now? Will this not put me to sleep as it did to O'Neill and Carter? I will be of no use if I sleep through the expedition."

"This will do its work while you sleep, it will take much longer to finish this way. But it will make sure you can perform your duties during the transformation. Do you accept it?"

"I do."

Mokar handed the stone, still wrapped in cloth, to Teal'c. "Hold it against your skin and say that you accept when you feel that you wish to begin the transformation."

Teal'c placed it inside his breastplate. "I will use it as soon as I can. Now I think I need to see to my men."

"Then go." As Teal'c walked away Mokar activated his com badge. "Doctor McKay, Doctor Zelenka, we need to meet."


	7. Chapter 6

Mokar, Rodney, Doctor Keller, Thor and Mimir all looked at a hologram of the Nest from the control room of the Alterran research station when the Nest jumped away into hyperspace.

"That is a truly impressive ship," Mimir said.

"It is our first and only anti-wraith carrier. It is designed to combat their fighters but it has the weapons to fight of most other ships too. It will also be our forward command center in the war against the wraith," Rodney said.

"Come Rodney, we have things to do," Mokar urged.

"He just finished the reactor give him a day off at least," Keller complained.

"It's fine honey, we're just going to plan some things," Rodney said. He gave her a kiss. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Fine."

"Thor, if it is fine with you I would like to use some Asgard technology in our facilities," Mokar said.

"Of course, you may use what you wish," Thor replied.

"Thank you, I will make sure that the Asgard are compensated," Mokar said right before he activated the stations transporter and he and Rodney was transported to the science department on Atlantis. Hundreds of doctors, engineers and technicians were running around in the hall where the transporter placed the two. Further down the hall was Zelenka's lab which the two headed for. The door opened when they came close and they stepped inside to find Zelenka surrounded by people at consoles. When Zelenka saw them he pressed a button on his console and shut down everything in the room.

"Take lunch and continue work in the common labs afterwards," Zelenka said. Quickly the people moved out of the room and the consoles shrunk down into the floor. Left standing was Zelenka and a single console. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to us about? Maybe just how the hell it is that Rodney is still alive?"

"I will let him answer that later, for now there are things I need to see to. We have some problems providing resources to the Jaffa, we're running low on rare resources, we've run out of Neutronium and we're maxing out all production lines. I would like you two to solve the issues if you can."

"Yes but there's a reason rare resources are rare to find or they would not be categorised as rare," Zelenka said.

"A few dozen generation ships could be used to map the galaxy, sector by sector, to find new resources," Rodney said.

"I already have many of the Travelers' ships doing just that and we have three or four hundred small Neutronium deposits, but they are too small and buried to deep to make it worthwhile building outposts. It is the same on many worlds, deep deposits that hold resources we need but it is not worth it to build a mining outpost on every world. I want you to come up with a solution for small scale mining. The same goes for production, if the Jaffa are going to create colonies across the galaxy they will need to be able to process the minerals they pull out of the ground on site. The Alterra were fine with a few large facilities in each galaxy because we only held a handful of planets but if we are to use hundreds of worlds the gate network will be cramped. I have asked Thor and you're free to also use Asgard technology if you need to," Mokar explained.

"What do you want the production facilities to produce? Food? Furniture? Ships? Weapons?" Zelenka asked.

"If we use Asgard synthesizers we can produce whatever we need with the materials available, we could even substitute materials we don't have with extra energy. It would be easy to scale up," Rodney said. His fingers moved quickly into the air as he gestured. "We create build modules, we could build anything from a village processing plant for a handful of villagers to an entire shipyard. It would be less efficient than simply building a specialised shipyard or processing plant but with the correct materials we would only be wasting extra energy. Given a powerful energy source we won't need to care about wasting energy."

"Do you need any help?" Mokar asked.

"No, this will be a piece of cake. Alterran holographic designers, Asgard technology and my brain will have this figured out in a heartbeat. Just give us full access to the Alterran and Asgard databases," Rodney said.

Mokar looked towards the two and nodded. "You already have full access from Atlantis McKay. Get your people together and figure it out. Inform me when you have something." He walked out of the room, leaving the two Doctors.

"Come on Rodney we do not even have a plan," Zelenka complained.

"The Asgard have already created the synthesizers, we just need to make an interface for the Alterran design files, create a way of linking them together and plug in a power source powerful enough to power them and also provide extra energy to substitute any missing materials," Rodney ranted.

"It can not be that easy Rodney and even if it is the synthesizers would not be able to extract the materials from the ground," Zelenka protested.

"Relax, we'll find a way. How hard can it be?"

 **###**

Lieutenant Lou Miller was sitting half asleep in the Captain's chair of the Sable over the supergate. He was playing a game on a handheld device while the rest of the night shift crew was moving around on the bridge, doing their duties. "Jim how are things going on that shield emitter?" Miller asked.

"Oh I fixed that four hours ago," Jim replied.

"So anything else happening on the ship?"

"It's just as quiet as it always is."

"It's the way it's meant to be, we are here to monitor and defend," Miller said.

"Well it would be nice to have something to do. So what do you think of doing when this is all over? I mean when the Alterra have pacified Earth and the wraith are defeated."

"If my services are needed I'll serve Earth or the Alterra."

"Well I guess-" An alarm sounded on the bridge and the crew instantly shifted all attention towards their monitors and equipment.

Miller instantly dropped the handheld and leaned back into the control chair to activate it. "Do we have a confirmed reading from the gate?"

"Reading is confirmed," someone reported.

"Alright people you know what to do. Someone get our captain out of bed. Gunners at the ready. Prepare to swap cloak for shields."

Behind Miller the floor opened and several more control chairs rose up from the floor. When the floor had risen into place the night shift gunners sat down in them. They would each control a handful of the Ion cannons and the Asgard Plasma Beams on the ships.

In a flash Major Eli Rutherford, the ship's captain, was beamed onto the bridge, he was still wearing the dark blue air force pyjamas.

"What's happening Lieutenant?" Rutherford asked.

"Our segment has intercepted a subspace dialing signal. The gate is dialing as we speak," Miller said. He began to rise from the chair but Rutherford placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The chair is yours Lieutenant," Rutherford said. He leaned on the back of the control chair just as the gate activated and flushed. "Keep all our forces cloaked until they have all come through."

"Yes, Sir," Miller said.

Everyone on the bridge tensed as the first Ori ship passed through the gate, two ships came through first. They spread out in front of the gate and on the strategic holograms around the bridge the crew could see the wireframes of the weapons platforms as they moved out of the way to avoid collision. A second group of six ships came through before the gate shut down.

"Do we have a firing solution?" Rutherford asked.

"Yes Sir, standing by for orders," Miller replied.

"Fire at will," Rutherford ordered.

Above the gate the Sable cycled the cloak for shields and fired the five Ion cannons. The shields of the Ori ships failed one by one within a few seconds and the ship's fourteen Asgard Plasma Beams sliced through the ships before they could turn around to face the Sable. In less than a minute the Ori fleet was wiped out and the weapon platforms still had not been used.

"Good work everyone. Vaporise the rest of the debris, cloak and reposition the ship," Rutherford ordered.

"Sir, sensors detected a short subspace burst coming from one of the ships. It's encoded but we will try to decipher it," someone reported.

"So now they know they can't come through here. We'll see how the enemy proceed," Rutherford said. "Good work everyone. Inform me if anything else happens Lieutenant, otherwise I'll see all of you in the morning."


	8. Chapter 7

"You wished to see us?" Teyla asked when she and Ronon stepped onto the bridge of the Aurora-class ship that she, Ronon and Colonel Young had commandeered from the Earth forces for the search for Doctor Daniel Jackson and Colonel John Sheppard. Most of the rest of the Destiny expedition was on the bridge, scanning and observing the area around the explosion below the ship for any signs of who bombed the peace talks.

"Yes, Doctor Rush here seems to have found out what happened to Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard," Young said from the ship's control chair.

"They were not killed in the blast?" Ronon asked.

"It was made to look like they did. The explosive was a high grade military substance that is used in military ordnance," Rush answered.

"So it was an attack from Earth's people?" Teyla asked.

"Well I think someone tried to make it look that way, but the explosive is too pure. The recipe can be found in the Odyssey's database and it's bloody identical," Rush said.

"What does it mean?" Teyla asked.

"It means that someone has tried to make it look as if the attack came from Earth. We are advanced but we can not create perfectly pure elements, there's almost always some trace elements left behind. But with an Asgard synthesizer the explosive can be created with the press of a button," Eli said.

"I thought the Asgard where allies," Ronon said.

"They are. What's important is that a transport signature was registered before the explosion. It was good that Colonel Sheppard brought a small fleet of jumpers for security. Moments before the explosion several lifesigns vanished with energy signatures identical to Asgard transporters, now we managed to match the arrival point of the transporters with a hyperspace signature, we know where the ship went," Rush explained.

"Why are we still here then? Get this ship moving," Ronon ordered.

"We're waiting for your orders," Young said.

"I just gave them," Ronon roared.

"Hold a moment Ronon, we can not rush into this blindly," Teyla protested. "Contact the Earth base, commandeer a fleet of escorting ships. Send a pair of Retributors ahead of us in FTL under cloak to track this ship and report back on their findings."

"Our ships can cloak in hyperspace?" Ronon asked.

"FTL is not hyperspace Ronon and it is only some of our ships that can do this. Have you not listened to what John has told us about these things?" Teyla asked.

"Not really."

It took a few seconds before a man stood up. "The base reports that two ships in the area have been dispatched to scout ahead. Six additional ships are going to meet up with us."

"Colonel if you would please take this ship into hyperspace so that we may track down Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Jackson," Teyla said.

"Right away." Colonel Young concentrated and the ship rose up through the atmosphere. As soon as the ship was free of the atmosphere it opened a hyperspace window and slipped into hyperspace.

"The Retributors have picked up the hyperspace signature and are tracking it," someone said.

"Changing course to match the new heading," Young reported.

"How long will it take to reach the Retributors?" Teyla asked.

"An hour or two, they're in FTL and we're traveling in hyperspace, so it's not really fair to compare the two," Eli said. "But unless they're leaving the Milky Way the Retributors will reach their destination before we catch up to them."

"Good. Colonel Young, can you have a team ready for boarding or going planetside?" Ronon asked.

"Lieutenant Scott, prepare an away team. Jumpers, heavy weapons, the lot," Young ordered.

"We'll be ready in a few minutes," Scott replied. He had been standing guard on the bridge but hurried for the door. "Sergeant Greer, you're with me."

"Right behind you," Greer said and followed right behind him.

Time slowly passed as the Aurora passed through hyperspace. Until someone finally spoke.

"The Retributors have found some sort of staging point," someone on the bridge said.

"Can we get a map from their sensor readings?" Young asked. He had gotten the gene therapy and could work the Alterran technology, but just barely.

It took several minutes before a map showing a binary star system appeared on the bridge, at first it was huge but after a few seconds it shrunk in size. Three worlds orbited the two starts and five Ori ships held position around one of the world's. On the world a single large energy source was detected as a bright spot beneath the surface.

"Is that an underground base?" Teyla asked.

"It would seem so," Rush responded.

"Inform Lieutenant Scott of this so that they can prepare," Teyla ordered.

"I don't think we have enough soldiers on this ship take that base," Young said.

"There are several other ships in the fleet we have commandeered for this mission, take what men we need from them," Teyla said.

Each ship in the Alterran fleet had a small security force to defend the ship and handful of soldiers, a team or two at most, for offensive actions. That was the idea at least, with the limited number of personnel only the ships at the frontline actually held a full complement of soldiers.

"I'll see what we can do."

Teyla saw the concerned look on Colonel Young's face. "What do you suggest Colonel Young?" Teyla asked.

"The Ori ships are hard to defeat, the only weapon I know of that can pierce their shields are Asgard Plasma Beams. We only have plasma pulse weapons, drones and anti fighter weapons on the ships we brought. I think we need to call in a ship with APBs."

"When the Ori ships returned after the first crusade several Ori ships were destroyed using drones, I believe it was caused by a single Retributor. Do we not have more drones than they did?"

"We have some drones, but the ships are not fully stocked," Young said.

"We should still be able to take them out, these are Alterran and Lantean ships," Ronon said.

"Yes but the Ori are the brothers and sisters of the Alterra Ronon, we should not take this lightly. But I agree, we have the advantage and we should use it. The Auroras do not have cloaks so the Retributors will position themselves inside the system using FTL and cloak. When the Auroras drop out of hyperspace we strike," Teyla said.

"That should work. But if we fail now they're likely to leave and vanish with Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard, or just kill them. Taking some time, just a few hours, to study their patrol patterns and search for any ships that can provide them with assistance could be worth it," Young said.

"I agree Colonel, we need to know what we're up against," Ronon said.

###

"This station is most impressive," Mimir stated after Keller had given him a tour of the facility, finally ending up outside the section that Mokar had set aside for the Vanir.

"It's our hope that it provides all the facilities you will require during your stay," she said in her most diplomatic tone. "I will be serving as representative for the Alterra here so if there is anything you need I will be happy to see to it that you get it. Of course if there is any equipment you need brought here we will only require a blueprint and we will see to it that it is installed for you, it's only a matter of security."

"I will begin my inspection of what is available to us and provide you with the needed schematics to replicate the equipment we may need, but I am sure that this station already holds more advanced versions than the Vanir has. With some luck a simple interface to make sure we can handle the equipment with relative ease should be enough." Mimir bowed and walked through the doors into the Vanir section.

It had been a long day and she looked forward to dinner with Rodney and a good night's sleep. She activated her com badge while she walked back to their quarters. "Rodney I'm done for the day, are you back yet?"

-I'm just about done honey, give me a shout when dinner's done and I'll be there,- Rodney answered.

As always he was caught up in his work, busy saving the world but never time to be home.

Their quarters were quite large, a nice and large dining area with a sofa in one of the corners. They each had a large office, with an even bigger lab underneath each. Of course there was also a bedroom, the smallest room in their quarters, but still large enough to have fun times in.

Once inside she strode up to the control panel on one of the walls, it showed the dinner that the station thought she wanted today, alien steak and mashed potatoes, perfectly calibrated to match her energy and mineral needs for the day. A single press on the screen was all she needed to do and a small door opened to show the smoking dish, not that it was just cooked but rather the synthesizer had created it at the perfect temperature for her.

"Dinner's ready Rodney," she said into the com badge.

-You start eating and I'll be right there, I just need to finish up here.-

She knew his side of the bed would be empty tonight, her appetite lost she put the dish back in the synthesizer and closed the door, letting the food return to energy.

###

"Your work here is most impressive," Mimir said. He was meeting Mokar in the common labs a few hours after Keller had left him at the Vanir section.

"The knowledge of the Alterra, which I posses, is great and it has proven useful on many occasions. If I can assist you with this I will try to do so, but I am afraid I have many other duties," Mokar replied.

Thor, Heimdall, Loki and Hermoid came through one of the doors and entered the lab. "Have you understood what the Asgard equipment does and what work we have done to solve this problem?" Thor asked.

"Most of this equipment have not been invented by the Vanir, it is thousands of years beyond what we have. I fear that you will have to teach me what this all is," Mimir said.

"Heimdall, you know this equipment well. Would you please explain what it all does?" Thor asked.

"I will do my best to explain the workings of this equipment. Come with me and I will show you," Heimdall said and motioned towards the Asgard console nearby.

-We solved it,- McKay's voice sounded through Mokar's com badge.

"Call me when you need me," Mokar said before activating the com badge. He stepped away from the group of Asgardians. "It has only been a few hours. Are you sure?"

-Yes we're sure. Look, everything we needed was in the databases. We just had to put the pieces together, scavenging alien technology and making it do stuff it's not meant to do is what we do best. Now could you send us some addresses where the Travelers found the small deposits, we would need eight or nine planets to do a proper test. And we need a ship, and a star rich in energy, something like a pulsar.-

"Why would you need a pulsar? How would you mine using a pulsar?" Mokar asked suspiciously. In Alterran history pulsars were used for their radioactive properties as weapons.

-The pulsar is for the production, we're going to use solar power collectors to power a shield and the Asgard synthesizers.-

"No one could operate such a facility, there's no shielding we can produce that will protect a living being anywhere close to the star."

-We're not going for a manned facility. If we put it close enough the facility will be off limits from anything that's not properly shielded. The atmosphere of the star will even stop it from being attacked by plasma bolts.-

"How do you plan on getting anything to and from this place, we don't have any effective way of sending and receiving things from a star, let alone a pulsar."

-We don't, but the wraith do. We have stolen several wraith data cores over the years and the wraith have developed a long distance culling beam to cull planets from orbit, it can easily penetrate down to where in the pulsar we will place the fabricator. As you know wraith technology is very limited by their power sources, the wraith have no way of doing this. But with a proper power source we can use this to beam things from low orbit of a planet to the system's star.-

"Alright. You have full access to the database Doctor McKay, you can find the planets and the pulsar you need in there. As for the ship you can just call for one from a rally point. Inform me how your tests are going."

-Great. I'll have to gather some parts but we should be able to start the first test in a few hours. Oh, and could you tell my wife that I'll be away working for a few days? Great, thanks.-

"Doctor McKay, I will not be dealing with your marital problems for you." There was no response.


	9. Chapter 8

-Doctor McKay, I will not be dealing with your marital problems for you,- Mokar said through Rodney's com badge, but Rodney ignored it and deactivated the com badge. Coming home late to Jennifer was not a great thing, he knew he was in for a proper scolding so he may just as well be late a few days in a row.

"Should you not deal with that Rodney?" Radek asked.

"She'll be fine, it's the way we work," Rodney said. He was packing a small bag of tools and equipment, he may have oversold the simplicity slightly but they would figure it out as they went along.

"Rodney, we are not so desperate to get this working. When he asked us to solve this I do not think he meant for us to solve this in under a day."

"Well we did, didn't we?" Rodney asked. He had thrown the bag over his shoulder and was working on a datapad to retrieve the list of planets the Travelers had found deposits on.

"Yes Rodney we did, but you can go home and spent the night with your wife. We can continue work in the morning and work during the days, sleep normally during the nights and have a social life."

"Yes yes I know, but it's no fun is it? Working regular times, solving problems eight hours at a time. Now how about you get us a ship? Preferably with a synthesizer so we can create what we need on site and not bring everything with us."

"Fine." Radek walked out of their lab. Rodney remained and dug through the list of planets.

Half an hour later Radek returned. "I have requested a ship but the fleet coordinators want to known where we will need to go."

"If they meet us on P6S-312 we can start there and try the beam mining, it should be effective when digging out shallow pockets of materials. Then we move to P3Y-917 where we can test the nanite mining, it has pockets of titanium and naquadah deep inside the crust."

"Have you found a pulsar where we can test the processing facility?"

"Yes, but it's in an asteroid belt, so we will need to bring a gate or ferry things there and back."

"Then we can test the Alterran standard mining technique there, it should provide enough materials for the production facility."

"And what would that be?"

"The mining drones I found in the database, they were used in large numbers to strip entire systems of their resources at the height of the Alterran empire."

"Oh, well I guess when can try."

Zelenka had been tapping on a datapad while they were talking. "They've sent us a pair of Auroras. They will meet us on the planet as soon as we arrive. One is equipped with a synthesizer."

"Great, then we just need to get the blueprints sent to the ship. They can create what they need while we get there. You think we should take a jumper? We'll take one. Come on, let's go."

"Yes yes, I'm right behind you," Radek said when Rodney rushed out of the lab.

When Radek stepped out of the lab two men and a women stood outside. "Doctor Zelenka, we need you to look over some of our equations. The subspace capacitors are overloading when we activate them."

"I do not have the time to look at your projects, you are scientists and engineers. You should not ask me and McKay to solve your problems, you should solve them yourselves," Radek said and stormed after Rodney.

Radek caught up with Rodney in the gate room, where Rodney had parked a jumper in front of the active gate.

"What took you so long?" Rodney asked.

"Those idiots we thought could create a subspace capacitor from the designs you brought back from your trip to the alternate Daedalus are useless. It seems they cannot even handle the equations," Radek said.

"Hm, well a subspace capacitor could be useful in powering mining and production. We could take a look at it when we've tested the rest of the ideas," Rodney said while they walked into the jumper and sat down in the pilot's seats.

"We have enough on our hands Rodney, at least for the moment," Radek said.

Rodney activated the jumpers controls and it slid through the gate.

Coming out on the other side of the gate they could see the two large Auroras hanging in the lower atmosphere above the gate and the large plains of the planet.

-Doctors. We have synthesized the components you requested. Is there any place on the surface where you wish us to deliver them?- a female voice asked through the jumpers com system.

Rodney looked over to Radek. "I marked one of the deposits on my datapad, send the coordinates to the ship," Rodney said.

"Done," Radek replied.

"You should see exact coordinates now, if you follow us there and beam down the equipment that will be a good start."

Above them the two ships began to move and Rodney piloted the jumper to get to the coordinates first. -Copy that Doctors, we're on our way.-

In the atmosphere the Auroras had no chance of matching the jumper that arrived at the coordinates in just a few minutes. Once on site Rodney turned the sensors towards the ground and carefully mapped the deposit below.

"We will have to devise a way for the miner to scan these pockets automatically, on a planetary scale the sensors of a jumper will not be enough," Radek said.

"We'll just get a more powerful sensor suite," Rodney replied.

"Yes, but that would drain more power and more resources. Something we want to avoid."

"Hm, well I guess I didn't consider that. We'll fix it later." Rodney landed the jumper and powered it down after pulling the sensor data to the datapad.

As the two Doctors stepped out of the jumper the Auroras arrived over them and in a white flash eight soldiers appeared. Between them was a pile of equipment.

One of the men came to meet them and walked with them towards the equipment. "This should be all you requested. We'll be setting up a perimeter around the working area. Are you planning on going anywhere else on this planet?"

"No, we will be staying here, but when we power up this device the ground will collapse under our feet. Remain nearby so you can get back to the jumper in time," Rodney said. Radek was already piecing together the device and Rodney hurried to join him. Around them the soldiers had spread out a few meters from them. Piece by piece they put the device together until it stood ready, a large metal box was its base, inside it was the naquadah generator that would be used to test the idea, and on top of it was the antenna array that housed the Asgard transporter, a subspace transmitter and a weak sensor. Through a cable Rodney uploaded the sensor data from the datapad and stepped back.

"Alright everyone who doesn't want to get sucked down by a sinkhole, get inside the jumper," Rodney ordered as he and Radek walked back inside the jumper. Behind them the soldiers fell back inside too and sealed the hatch behind them.

From the co-pilot's seat Radek opened a channel to the ships above. "Stand by for test run."

-Copy that,- the woman replied.

Carefully Rodney brought the jumper a few meters up into the air while Radek closed the channel. "Activate it," Rodney said.

"Activating," Radek answered.

On the HUD they could see the energy readings coming from the device increasing. It took almost a minute before a large pile of dirt and stones appeared in a flash of light on the ground a few hundred meters away. Here and there in the pile they could see metals showing. It took just a few seconds for the ground to collapse until it looked like swiss cheese. It took a few more seconds for the naquadah generator to charge the transporters buffer again, but when it was fully charged the device split the pile into smaller piles, sorted after content. In one pile was the waste, dirt and rocks, while another was a small pile of crystals and minerals and a third was all the metals.

"I say that's a success," Rodney said confidently.

"A limited success Rodney," Radek said. "We will need more powerful sensors to lock onto the rest of the minerals in the ground or we will need to move the device and for it to work better we need a more potent power source."

"We can fix that later, but this proves that the concept works. Switching to an Alterran naquadah generator will do the trick and there's plenty of sensors to pick from." Rodney piloted the jumper towards the closest Aurora and opened a channel. "Beam up the device and the piles of minerals and metal to the hangar. I'll send the coordinates to the next planet and the blueprints for the components we need there."

-Will do.-

Below the jumper the two piles vanished and in front of them the Aurora opened its hangar doors. Carefully Rodney landed the jumper in the hangar and the hangar doors closed behind them. -Stand ready to enter hyperspace.-

Rodney closed the channel. "Go on, get out, we should have half an hour or so before the next planet," Rodney said and the soldiers hurried out of the jumper.

The two Doctors followed the soldiers out of the jumper and hurried to the two neat piles of crystals and metals, Radek handed Rodney a handheld scanner and they began to examine a pile each.

"Any strange readings on your side?" Rodney asked after twenty minutes.

"No it seems the transporter worked just as we hoped," Radek replied.

"Good, so we call it a success and fix the power and sensors later," Rodney stated. When they both turned away from the piles they saw a large box with a smaller stacked on top standing right beside the jumper. "What's this?"

"The equipment you ordered. It arrived a few minutes ago," one of the soldiers said.

"And you tell us this now?"

"You seemed occupied with that."

Rodney stormed forward to the boxes and Radek came after. "We can do that later, now we need to get to work on this." Rodney opened the large box and pulled out half of the sphere lying inside, meanwhile Radek opened the small crate and checked that it was filled to the brim with grey nanite dust.

When the two Auroras dropped out of hyperspace a few minutes later they had loaded the first half of the sphere into the jumper and hooked it up to the jumper's systems and left the smaller crate inside the hangar. The eight soldiers were sitting in the rear compartment with the other half of the sphere while Rodney and Radek were in the forward section.

-We've arrived at the coordinates you provided,- the woman reported through the jumper's com system.

"Good, open the hangar doors so we can get out. We're sending you a set of coordinates in the upper atmosphere of the planet, on my mark you beam the crate we left in the hangar there," Rodney answered. He piloted the jumper out of the Aurora as the hangar opened. The jumper dove towards the surface of the planet and sat down on the ground right below the two Auroras. Once on the ground they lowered the rear hatch.

"Give us a hand and will you? Get that thing on the ground," Radek said and pointed towards the half-sphere sitting between the feet of the soldiers.

"Sure thing Doctor," one of the soldiers said. Together with another soldier he lifted it up and carried it out of the jumper, as they did lights began to flicker and glow on it. "Is it suppose to be doing this?"

"I'm just initialising it. Just get it on the ground and get back inside so we can move on," Rodney answered. The soldiers wasted no time and put the half-sphere just outside the jumper before running back inside and sealing the hatch behind them.

"So just what was that?" the soldiers asked.

"A control unit for automated deep pocket mining, we have a control unit to control it with plugged into the jumper so we can control the control unit and see how things go," Radek answered.

"You're clear to beam," Rodney informed the Auroras above them before turning to Radek. "That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation."

High above them the small crate materialized and exploded a few moments after. While Rodney piloted the jumper up and away from the surface they used the HUD to track each of the nanites that had been released by the small crate, caught in the powerful winds of the upper atmosphere they spread across the planet. When they final reach the surface of the planet they would bury down a few meters and begin to gather materials. With the materials they would replicate and grow in numbers until they could finally dig their way to the closest deposit of metals or crystals. When they found the deposit it would be mined and pushed through microscopic tunnels back to the controller or another drop site. When the nanites had mined everything on the planet they would dissolve into their basic building stones in the drop sites, but only after creating a new crate of nanites next to the controller. Unlike normal nanites that required neutronium these were more like the cruder and simpler replicator blocks, meaning that they could be made from almost any element and required a group of them to be locked together to function by themselves, now the controller was making sure any nanites that landed too far away from other nanites got working on creating more nanites by itself from trace elements in the soil where it landed. This meant that if something went wrong the controller only needed to be shut down for the nanites to go inactive.

All that was of course what Rodney and partially Radek thought would happen and what they had planned for.

-Doctors, did we just release millions of nanites into the atmosphere of the planet?- the woman asked. -Who knows what could happen. We need to extract you right away.-

"Actually we know," Rodney said confidently.

"Well it is more of a theory," Radek pointed out.

"A theory that we will have proven correct when we return. Zelenka will upload the next coordinates and the final list of things we need."

It took a few seconds before the woman replied. -Doctor McKay are you sure this is the final list? This ship only had a partially charged zero point module when we departed and you are close to draining it.-

"Actually we would need a few more things created later," Radek said.

-Then you will have to wait a few hours for the backup naquadah generator to provide the necessary power.-

"We start with the production facility and it can create the bots over time," Rodney said to Radek.

"We will solve it later then," Radek informed the woman. He checked the readings from the control unit again. "So far everything is within acceptable parameters."

"Then we move on." Rodney flew the jumper back to the Auroras and parked it in the hangar. Together Rodney and Radek walked out of the jumper to find a huge pile of components lying on the floor of the hangar.

The eight soldiers were already heading away from the jumper but Radek stopped them. "We require your assistance in putting this thing together."

"Captain told us to take a break, there's like two or three hours in hyperspace before we reach the destination. You've barely done anything with the equipment the gave you last two times," one of the soldiers answered.

"Well then it's good that it's us two who are in charge here and not your Captain. All you need to do is hold the things in place while we put it together," Rodney ordered. To both Rodney and Radek's surprise the soldiers did as ordered and returned.

Slowly a cube was created that contained a shield, a solar power collector, several synthesizer, the wraith beam, stabilisers and meter upon meter of tractor tubing to move items and materials to where they needed to be. When they had finished the production facility itself they began working on the second cube, the receiver that would be in orbit around the star so materials could be delivered to the facility and goods received. As this was only a prototype and a test facility it was the smallest possible design and the facility would only produce small goods, but as a test it was good enough.

-Doctors, we've arrived.-

"I'll be right up on the bridge in a minute," Rodney replied into the com badge.

"So which part do I get to prepare?" Radek asked Rodney.

"I don't care, so pick one and beam over to the other ship," Rodney said. He hurried away to the bridge through the winding corridors, leaving Radek with the eight soldiers and the two cubes in the hangar.

A handful of crewmen were manning the bridge when Rodney stepped into it. Through the darkened windows of the bridge they could see the pulsar and the large asteroid field that was covering the entire system.

"So Doctor McKay what are we doing here?" the captain asked, there was no mistaking that it was the woman they had spoken with earlier.

Rodney took a seat at a console on the bridge and activated his com badge. "Zelenka, which piece did you take?"

-I took the receiver with me,- Radek replied.

"Well it seems we're going to drop an experimental piece of technology into the pulsar," Rodney informed the captain.

"Our shields are strained already, we can't hope to come much closer to the star without getting fried."

"That's why I am recalibrating the shield emitters to match the frequencies of the pulsar, it should keep the ship safe without taxing the ZMP to much." He was connecting to the ship's systems with his datapad and making the changes needed.

"Should Doctor? We're in a space ship, if our shields fail we will be fused to the interior of the ship."

"We will be fine, okay? If you use the tractor beam to bring the cube out of the hangar and keep it right inside the shield that would be great."

The captain hesitated for a few seconds. "Alright, moving the device out of the hangar."

On the console in front of him McKay could track the telemetry and see the cube moving out of the hangar. On his datapad he saw how the cube began to power up as the solar power collector was moved out of the Aurora's shield but it was far from enough to power up the shield.

"We need to get closer to the star, lower the ship another four kilometers into the star," Rodney ordered.

"That's a long way to go Doctor, are you sure the shield will hold?" the captain asked.

"Yes I'm sure. Look a shield works by creating an energy field around the ship, when the ship is attacked by energy weapons it's better if the frequency of the energy weapon and the shield has the same frequency but since we don't know what frequency attack will have we let the shields cycle all frequencies and hope for the best. Some shields like Atlantis uses powerful sensors to detect the frequency of the attack and matches the shield's frequency, that's what I'm doing, only manually. A pulsar has a predictable frequency so I can set the shields to match the exact frequency, now I need to concentrate on this, so unless you want to die I suggest that you shut up."

"Fine. Lowering four kilometers."

Slowly the ship sunk deeper into the star and the telemetry on Rodney's console was starting to get scrambled by the interference of the star. But the strength of the cube's shield was increasing steadily as they shrunk deeper into the star.

"You can hold here," Rodney ordered when he was happy with the shield's strength.

"The shield is draining quickly, we need to get out of here soon," the captain advised.

"Yes I can see that thank you. You can drop the cube now, it should take care of itself now."

"Deactivating tractor beams."

The gravity of the star grabbed the cube and pulled it in. When the solar power collectors produced enough power Rodney used the datapad to activate the cube's stabilizers and it stopped descending, he ordered it down a few more hundred meters to make sure that enough power was produced to run everything.

"Alright bring us out of the star," Rodney ordered. Instantly the ship began to move and hurried away from the star.

-I am bringing the receiver online. Is the producer ready?- Zelenka asked through Rodney's com badge.

"We just dropped it off, it's waiting for you to link the receiver to it."

Radek waited a few seconds before responding. -I have linked the two cubes. Should we activate the wraith beam?-

"Of course you should, as long as you loaded the materials and instructions into the receiver."

The Aurora Rodney was on was still leaving the atmosphere of the star when a bright blue beam shot out of the darkness of space below the other Aurora and into the star. It lasted for only a few moments but it was enough to transmit data and materials to the producer deep inside the star. It took a few minutes before the producer activated its own beam and sent the finished product to the receiver.

-It appears to be working as it should, it returned the harvesting drone I asked for,- Radek said.

"Great, sent it out to harvest and give the producer orders to create a hundred or so, that should give a good base to compare the methods."

-I have already done so, given the readings from the producer it could take a few days to complete the order, but the bots should lower the time once they begin producing materials.-

"Yes I know."

-So I was thinking, what if we test beam mining using the ship's' sensors, they could be powerful enough to scan the entire planet.-

"Sure, pick a planet and we can go."


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** For those of you wondering what is going on with the strange update times there has been some sort of melt down in my file storage cloud and large parts of the story is slightly corrupted, which means that I have to fix (rewrite sections) of each chapter before I can post. So I do apologise if there are any places where ship, may have become shit.

 **Chapter 9**

"Alright let's get going," Ronon ordered. He was still standing on the bridge of the Aurora that he, Teyla and the Destiny expedition had commandeered to find Daniel and Sheppard. As it was the ship was leading a fleet made up of two more Auroras and four Retributors, with an additional two Retributors doing reconnaissance of the Ori fleet that had taken Daniel and Sheppard. They had located both Daniel and Sheppards' trackers on the surface of a planet in a binary system, or rather a base far below the surface of the planet. For the last couple of hours the two detached Retributors had been tracking the patrol routes of the Ori ships and scanning nearby systems for any additional Ori ships. Now Ronon felt they knew enough.

"So what's your plan?" Young asked from the control chair at the center of the bridge.

"Teyla and I will accompany Lieutenant Scott down to the base. We take jumpers down to the surface and if possible we get down to where they hold Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard without triggering the alarms. As you said they are likely to kill them both, we only have one chance to get in and get them out," Ronon said.

"Jumpers won't work, the upper atmosphere of the planet is a mix of superheated plasma, the shields of the jumpers can't take such heat," Rush said.

"We'll take you down in this ship, drop out right above the base and you can take the last trip in jumpers," Young said.

"Good, we shall go and prepare. I will leave the fleet combat to you Colonel." Ronon turned around and walked away from the bridge.

"I wish you luck in the coming battle Colonel Young," Teyla said. She followed Ronon out of the bridge and caught up to him in the hangar where he was raiding a weapons locker for its content. She grabbed two pistols and a rifle when he was done, she grabbed a few grenades as an afterthought before again rushing after Ronon who was gathering Lieutenant Scott and his men.

"Are we ready to go?" Scott asked.

"Yes, we will be deploying in jumpers above the base where they hold Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard. We will not be having the element of surprise on our side, as soon as our ships arrive they will know that we are there. We will need to be quick, or they will kill Doctor Jackson and Colonel Sheppard. That's not going to happen, we will strike hard and fast," Ronon said loudly so everyone in the room could hear him. They all heard the noise of the hyperspace engines power up and launch the ship into hyperspace.

-Five minutes to contact,- a female voice announced through the ship's internal speakers.

"Mount up. We're taking jumpers one to six," Scott shouted when he heard the announcement.

The soldiers immediately moved towards the lines of jumpers that stood in the hangar and Scott, Ronon and Teyla followed behind them. They all packed themselves into the jumpers and one by one the jumpers lifted from the floor, ready to depart.

-Three minutes to contact,- the female announced a few seconds after all the jumpers had left the floor. This time she spoke through the jumpers com system.

Slowly time passed for the group. For each passing minute the female announced the time.

-Thirty seconds to contact,- she announced.

In front of the jumpers the hangar shield formed and a few seconds later the hangar doors slowly opened to the blue and white flux of hyperspace. The jumpers floated forward a few meters to the shield when she began to count down from ten.

-Ten seconds to contact.-

-Nine.-

-Eight.-

-Seven.-

-Six.-

-Five.-

-Four.-

-Three.-

-Two.-

-One.-

-Contact.- The flux of hyperspace vanished and was replaced by the view of the blue and purple upper atmosphere of the planet. Far below they saw the burning plains of lava that made up the majority of the surface, but a lone blue dot on the surface showed where the base was located. The jumpers shot forward out of the ship and dove towards the surface. As soon as the last jumper was out the Aurora began to close the hangar doors before vanishing into hyperspace once again to join the rest of the fleet.

From his seat behind the controls of one of the jumpers Scott piloted the jumper into a violent dive towards the surface. The sensors of the jumpers scanned the shield of the base's that was sticking out of the ground and modulated the jumpers' shields so that when the jumpers hit the base shield they slipped through it. Just inside the shield was a hangar with a few Ori fighters inside. The jumpers landed and the soldiers spread out to secure the hangar.

"Sergeant, disable those ships," Ronon ordered and pointed towards the Ori fighters.

"I'll see to it," Greer said and hurried over to the Ori fighters with a few men.

"Sergeant Greer, when you're done dig in and hold the hangar," Scott ordered.

"Yes Sir," Greer said just as he dropped a grenade into the cockpit of one of the fighters.

"Come on," Ronon said as he and Teyla led the way out of the hangar and into the base.

A small complement of soldiers were waiting for them when they stepped around a corner into a large room filled with tables and chairs that had been flipped over as barricades. Ronon and Teyla saw them in time and got back behind the corner while blue plasma bolts hit the wall. Taking turns they fired around the corner.

Teyla grabbed a grenade and threw it into the room, just as it exploded she rushed around the corner with the rifle in hand, firing at anyone who tried to look out of cover. Ronon and a handful of men followed right behind her and took cover behind the first row of tables. One of the Ori soldiers behind the first row of tables looked over the table, but Ronon was ready and pulled him over it. The men by his side made short work of the Ori soldier.

Another group of Ori soldiers advanced from a side corridor towards them and the Lantean soldiers still behind the corner did what they could to suppress them.

-Everyone get down,- Scott yelled through their com badges. Everyone just had time to get down behind the tables when one of the walls in the room exploded inwards and large chunks slammed into the side of the Ori soldiers. Through the hole that had been created Scott and some of their men poured out, cutting down the Ori soldiers one at a time, even the ones rushing in through the side corridor. Then everything went black as the lights shut down.

"Lights on," Scott ordered as they secured the room. One by one the soldiers turned on their flashlights and checked that the Ori soldiers were dead.

"We need to get down, spread out and find an elevator or some stairs," Teyla ordered. Before anyone had a chance to do as she said they heard the stomping of boots against the floor coming from one of the corridors.

"I'll deal with them," Ronon said and hurried of into the corridor with some of the men. "You two go find them."

Teyla looked at Scott who nodded and began to send men into the rest of the corridors.

It took a few minutes before one of the men reported back. -Lieutenant Scott, Corporal Barnes here. I've located a stairwell leading down some ten floors. Follow the third corridor on the left.-

"Good work Corporal," Scott answered. He set the combadge to transmit to everyone. "Assemble at the stairwell in the third corridor on the left."

Together with Teyla he headed down the corridor to Barnes. The corridor sloped slightly downwards and curved to the right, they walked for several hundred meters guided by only their flashlights before seeing Colonel Barnes and three other men at the end of the corridor. By the time they reached the end of the corridor most of the soldiers had caught up to them. The stairwell was not only leading down, it was also leading up several floors and from above they could hear the sounds of fighting.

Scott pointed towards some of the men. "You twelve stay here and make sure nothing comes down behind us."

"Yes Sir," they replied.

-We're taking heavy damage up here, how are things going Lieutenant?- Young asked.

"We're closing in Sir," Scott replied. "Colonel Barnes, you have point."

Barnes nodded and hurried down the stairwell with the three men that had accompanied her, closely followed by the rest of the group. They headed down the stairs to find a large heavy door blocking their way, but it wasn't locked. When they pressed it open a handful of Ori soldiers began to fire at them, but with only a handful of soldiers they easily feel as all of the Lantean soldiers rushed into the corridor. At the end of the corridor stood a single metal door.

Barnes and her men rushed forward to the door. "Prepare to breach."

###

"The jumpers have cleared the hangar bay," Eli reported. The Aurora had just dropped of the jumpers heading down to the surface.

"Prepare for battle," Young ordered. He was in the control chair and urged the ship forward, they jumped into hyperspace for only a few moments before dropping out right into the heat of battle.

When they dropped out they could see the other two Auroras and one of the Retributors fighting against three of the Ori warships, the other three Retributors where cloaked and waiting right next to the point where they had predicted that the two Ori ships on patrol would return.

Immediately Young ordered all the drones out of the hold and sent them against the Ori ships. They could see the Ori ships all firing on one of the Auroras and part of the beams slipping through the shield and hitting the hangar area.

"Get away," Young ordered the damaged Aurora. He ordered his own Aurora forward and blocked the Ori attacks against the crippled ship, before the Ori could get another shot at firing at the crippled ship it managed to jump away.

The two other Ori ships return to the system, dropping out just where the Retributors were waiting for them. Instantly the two Ori ships fired towards the other Aurora that was fighting next to Young's. It took the Retributors just a few seconds to react and send out the drones that began to pound on the shield of the Ori ships.

"We're not going to last much longer against this," Rush complained as another yellow beam struck their side.

"I know that all too well Rush," Young growled as they were struck once again. He activated his com badge. "We're taking some heavy damage up here, how are things going Lieutenant?"

-We're closing in Sir,- Scott replied.

"You heard him," Young said. "We need to hold out as long as we can."

"Eh, I think the base has lost power," Eli said.

"They'll manage without the lights Eli, they carry flashlights you know," Rush said.

"Yes, but the shield that holds back the lava from the hangar needs power too," Eli said.

"We're reaching the limit of what this ship can take," Brody yelled just as the console he was working at exploded.

"What's the status of the other ships?" Young asked just as two of the Retributors jumped away.

"Critical," Rush answered. "We need to get out of here."

-Mayday, mayday, our shields are down and we are leaking atmosphere,- someone transmitted from the other Aurora.

"Beam them over," Young ordered. He diverted all the power he could into the shield. He opened a channel down to the surface. "Lieutenant you need to hurry up, we can't hold out much longer."

-Go Colonel, we'll find another way of this planet,- Scott replied just as the ship's shield collapsed.

"We need to go now," Eli shouted as sparks began to fly across the bridge.

"We're staying," Young shouted back.

A few seconds passed before the Aurora shot forward into hyperspace, the last ship to leave.

"What did you do?" Young shouted. He flew out of the control chair and rushed up to Rush, grabbing him by the neck.

"I overrode your controls," Rush coughed forth.

"Colonel, the ship was coming apart. Rush saved us," Eli shouted.

"But he stranded Scott, Greer and everyone else on that planet," Young answered.

An alarm rang out over the bridge. "Eh guys, they're following us," Eli said.

"Who?" Young asked as he dropped Rush and jumped back into the control chair.

"Well the sensors are a bit damage but I think it's three Ori ships," Eli said.

"Or it could be two, or four. The damage is quite sever," Rush said after he caught his breath and managed to look at the sensors.

"Can we get any more power to the engines?" Young asked.

"We're pushing it as it is, they're still going to catch up to us and overtake us," Eli said.

"Send a message to Earth and -," Young began.

"Subspace transmitter is blown to pieces. Same goes for the shields, sublight engines, turrets and almost everything else," Rush said. Suddenly everyone on the bridge felt things moving and they got lighter.

"And there goes the artificial gravity," Eli said.

"Alright we press on, is there any way we can reach another fleet?" Young asked. "And can someone please shut of the alarm."

It took a few seconds before the alarm stopped.

"Thank you Eli", Rush said when it stopped.

"Wasn't me, they turned around," Eli answered, he saw the questioning look of Colonel Young who was desperately clinging to the control chair. "The Ori ships, they turned around and are heading back towards the planet, or at least the general area."

"Alright, ease down on the engines then and see if you can get the artificial gravity and the subspace transmitter working again," Young said, floating above the control chair.

#

Both Daniel and Sheppard were tied to chairs in the small cell with five Priors standing before them.

Sheppard saw the five Priors looking towards the door for a few moments before they turned their attention back to Daniel who was hanging his head and continued chanting in Ancient. Then he heard the loud shouting outside and something heavy hitting the door. Two seconds later a large part of the door fell into the room. Only a single Prior turned around to face the Lantean soldiers in the corridor.

Suddenly Sheppard saw Daniel looking up next to him. "This is your fight Teyla."

The Prior looking towards Teyla and Scott slammed his staff into the floor, both Daniel and Sheppard could feel the power radiating from the Prior as the staff hit the floor. Everyone in the corridor were thrown backwards, except for Teyla, she held out an open hand in front of her and focused. The Prior slammed his staff into the floor again, but Teyla didn't even flinch, she simply twisted her hand and the Priors staff shattered into hundreds of pieces and the Prior was thrown across the room into the further wall. The four remaining Priors turned towards her and began to strike their staffs into the floor, behind Teyla everyone was flung backwards even further, but still she stood strong. The Priors struck again and again, and both Daniel and Sheppard could see the drops of sweat beginning to roll down her cheek.

With the Priors attention on Teyla Daniel had gotten some room to breath, he focused on the thick metal cuffs behind his back that held his hands together. Ever so slowly the metal began to bend and crack.

Behind Teyla the men was struggling to get back up, each time they did they were flung back by the Priors as they hit the floor with their staffs.

Daniel felt the cuffs breaking under his mental powers and he pulled them off. With his hands free it was far easier for Daniel to direct his mental powers, he reached for the crystal from the broken staff and mentally lifted it from the floor before throwing it in the direction of the Priors, he hit one in the back and that Prior fell forward onto his knees. Straight away Daniel switched focus to the staff of another Prior and forced it up and away from the floor.

With only two Priors keeping her at bay Teyla walked forward and snapped her fingers, in an instant the crystals on the Priors' staffs feel dark and the bindings that held both Sheppard and Daniel in place shattered. One of the Priors looked at her in disbelief when she simply walked up to him and punched him in the throat. Being free both Daniel and Sheppard lunged forward and tackled the other two Priors to the ground. A few quick jabs and the Priors stayed down.

Daniel looked at Teyla and saw her legs going wobbly, he hurried to support her before she fell over.

"Are you alright?" Sheppard asked when he noticed how much she leaned on Daniel.

"I will be as soon as I am able to rest," she replied.

"That was impressive, fighting four Priors at once. I struggled with only one," Sheppard said. He stepped past the two and began to check on the soldiers behind her, a few were bleeding heavily, but it seemed everyone was still alive even if they were not all conscious.

"Mokar gave her a stone, she's become an Alterran. But I think she will have a few months left before the changes have stopped," Daniel explained as he led her towards the stairs.

-Sir, we're pulling back. The entire facility is sinking into the ground and we have lava pouring into the hangar. We've lost the jumpers, sorry Sir,- Greer said through Scott's com badge, but Scott was out cold.

"This is Teyla. Lieutenant Scott has been knocked out, but we have rescued Daniel and Sheppard and are returning up to your level. Find Ronon and assist him, we will be there shortly," Teyla replied through her com badge.

-Yes Ma'am, we're pulling back,- Greer confirmed.

Sheppard grabbed a weapon from one of the unconscious soldiers and took point, behind him everyone helped getting the unconscious soldiers up the stairs to where they had left twelve men.

"What's the situation above?" Sheppard asked when they reached the corridor with the twelve soldiers and could hear the sounds of fighting coming from above.

"Ronon's trying to fight back the Ori soldiers with his men above us," Teyla answered. She was starting to feel sick, but her balance was returning.

"A handful came down this way but we dealt with them," one of the twelve soldiers said and pointed towards a pile of bodies along the wall of the corridor.

Scott and the others were placed against the corridor's walls.

"Good work men," Sheppard said. He activated his com badge. "Ronon, how are things looking up for you?"

-Half of my men are down and we're running low on ammo,- Ronon replied a few seconds later.

"Can you cut them off?" Sheppard asked.

-Negative, they are being sent in through a ring platform, I've tried to damage it but it's been no use.-

"We're bellow you somewhere, do you see any stairs?"

-Negative, but some of the soldiers have run of into side corridors.-

"We're coming up to assist you."

Sitting against the corridor wall Scott woke up, it took him a few moments to get his bearings before he walked up to Daniel, Sheppard and Teyla, the moment he came up to them his com badge came to life. -Lieutenant you need to hurry up, we can't hold out much longer.-

"Go Colonel, we'll find another way of this planet," Scott replied.

"If they're using rings to get here there must be a ship in orbit," Daniel said.

"Good. I will take two men and go up these stairs to flank the Ori soldiers, Lieutenant lead the rest back the way you came and find Ronon," Sheppard said and headed for the stairs.

"Sir, we have jumpers in the hangar above," Scott said.

"Well it seems the hangar's being flooded by lava," Sheppard said as he vanished up the stairs with two men, closely followed by Daniel.


	11. Chapter 10

Sheppard looked around a corner inside the Ori base just in time to see rings rise up through the floor. The rings lowered and a group of Ori soldiers stood there, the soldiers lowered their staffs and began to fire into another corridor. At the same time the men under Ronon's command returned fire from down the same corridor. The Ori soldiers lasted for only a few seconds before Ronon's men had cut down the Ori soldiers. Almost instantly the rings activated again and a second group of soldiers arrived.

"Come on let's go," Sheppard said as the Ori soldiers began to fall to Ronon and his men. Sheppard rushed forward with raised weapon and fired at the soldiers, Daniel and the other two men followed a few steps behind him.

"This is crazy," Daniel protested as he realised just what they were going to do.

"You mean being sent across the entire galaxy, or between galaxies, through the use of a metal ring isn't?" Sheppard replied as the last Ori soldier fell and they stepped into the rings.

"Sir, where are the controls?" one of the men asked.

"They're high above, you'll see in a few seconds," Daniel said as he took a knee.

Sheppard pressed the com badge. "Ronon, we'll ring you up as soon as we can get to the controls," he said.

Sheppard knelt down next to Daniel as the rings rose up and the soft white light enveloped them. Daniel knew exactly what awaited them and began to fire as soon as the light faded, Sheppard began when the rings had lowered a bit and the other two hesitated for a few moments longer.

There was a group of Ori soldiers in the small circular room they had ringed to but they stood in formation with their staffs in the ground, so when the blue plasma bolts from the Lantean weapons hit the first and second row fell before they could react. Next to Sheppard one of the soldiers fell to the ground when the Ori soldiers managed to lower their staffs to fire, but in their compact formation they had very little room to aim the staffs. To make things even worse for the Ori soldiers Daniel and Sheppard moved in close and used their compact weapons as an advantage. Behind them the other soldier was taking cover behind a console and fired into the group of soldiers. It took a few seconds to clear the room of the soldiers, but a man was standing at a console for a few seconds with his hands in the air, before Sheppard stunned him.

"Get him into cover," Sheppard ordered and pointed at the downed soldier that was still lying inside the rings. The second soldier dashed from his cover to do it while Sheppard headed for the single door. Meanwhile Daniel headed for the group of consoles and began to look through the controls.

A couple of plasma bolts came flying in through the open door and one hit Daniel dead center, his shield absorbed the bolt, but he still felt the force hit him. "Could you close the door while I'm working," he complained. He hurried up to the next console and kept searching for the controls to the rings.

"How hard can it be to activate the rings?" Sheppard asked. He activated his com badge. "Get your people into place inside the rings Ronon, we're about to activate them."

-We're standing ready with as many men as I can fit inside,- Ronon replied.

"Yea, just keep stressing me," Daniel complained. He searched around on the consoles for a few more seconds before he simply put his hands on the console and concentrated on the ship, trying to see if there was a mental connection he could use. It took him a minute or two, but then the rings activated and Ronon and several of his men appeared. Straight away they rushed to the door and helped Sheppard push back the Ori soldiers. Ronon gave Sheppard a slap on the back as he passed him and pressed on into the corridor.

"Teyla, you're next," Daniel said into his combadge as he prepared to activate the rings again.

It took a few minutes before she replied. -I am in position.-

Daniel concentrated on the console and the rings rose up again. This time Teyla and a group of soldiers stood there.

"Over here," Ronon shouted as he waved for the soldiers from the corridor. They quickly ran over and spread out into the corridor where Sheppard and Ronon were leading the men against the Ori soldiers, but Daniel stopped Teyla.

"Come over here," Daniel said as he led her to the consoles. He took her hands and placed them on the console. "Can you feel the ship?"

She was quiet for several seconds. "I can feel all of the controls in the ship."

"Can you activate the rings?" Daniel asked. It only took a moment before Scott and some soldiers appeared inside the rings and hurried out into the corridor. "Good work. Concentrate on the doors, can you open and close them?"

"Easily," she closed her eyes and in the corridor outside one of the doors slammed shut. An Ori soldier was looking through the door just as it closed, his head came clean off and tumbled towards them a short distance. Several more doors closed down the corridor.

"Good, can you seal the doors and create a sealed path to the bridge?" Daniel asked.

"I am working on it, but I am unable to seal the doors. Someone is opening them as soon as I let go, I believe it is someone on the bridge," Teyla said.

"It's probably a Prior, but you can stop him from opening the doors you close if you keep your attention on the doors?"

"Yes, he can not touch any systems I am influencing."

"Then close a path to the bridge, we'll stay here and Colonel Sheppard can deal with the Prior," Daniel said.

"It is done," Teyla answered after a few seconds.

"Good work Teyla," Daniel said. He ran away from her and out into the corridor where Sheppard and Ronon were fortifying their position. "Teyla has managed to seal a path to the bridge, but she needs to stay here to maintain the link to the ship. We think there's a Prior on the bridge, so be careful. I'll take some men and remain here to make sure Teyla can keep the doors closed."

"You're better suited to face a Prior Daniel, take Scott and go, I'll hold this room and keep Teyla safe." Sheppard tapped two men on their shoulders and they retreated into the ring room. Sheppard followed after them and two additional soldiers followed Sheppard. "I will take care of things here, go."

"I will inform you as soon as we have secured the bridge," Daniel said. He hurried down the corridor and ordered a few more men back to Sheppard's position.

Some distance into the corridor he saw Ronon kneeling in a pool of blood next to a doorway, with him were several soldiers and every few seconds a few blue bolts of plasma came dashing out of the doorway.

Ronon looked up and saw Daniel's gaze falling on the blood. "I've dealt with worse."

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked as the pool slowly grew before his eyes. He watched the timing and darted past the doorway between the groups of plasma bolts.

"Yea, I'll handle these guys."

With a nod Daniel hurried along down the corridor until he reached Scott and the men who was fighting against the few Ori soldiers who were now trapped in the corridor that Teyla had created for them.

Only a handful of Ori soldiers were still standing in the corridor in front of Lieutenant Scott and his men and they were being cut down quickly.

"We're only facing a very limited resistance, I would have thought that there be more soldiers on this ship," Scott said when Daniel knelt down next to him behind cover of a corner.

"We have managed to seal us off from most of the ship, leaving a path to the bridge. Colonel Sheppard and Teyla will keep the ring room safe, we'll press forward to the bridge and secure it so that we can take control of the ship," Daniel responded.

"Sounds like a plan," Scott said. He nodded towards Greer and another soldier and pointed into the corridor beyond, then he looked out into the corridor and fired everything he could towards the Ori soldiers. As soon as he returned to cover the two men rushed around the corner and charged the enemy. Several other soldiers followed only a few moments behind with Scott and Daniel following behind. Together they overwhelmed the Ori soldiers that were still trying to resist them.

Scott turned towards Greer. "Sergeant, help Colonel Sheppard hold the rings."

"Yes Sir," Greer saluted and fell back with his men to the room.

"Keep moving," Scott ordered while he pushed past the men with Daniel in tow to the front of the group. Together they pushed forward through the almost empty corridors only facing a handful of lonely Ori soldiers who all put down their weapons in face of their numbers.

"Do you feel that?" Daniel asked. In the back of his mind he felt something tugging for attention and he felt it growing with each step they took.

"Feel what?" Scott asked. He set his pistol to stun and shot another Ori soldier that had surrendered, just to be on the safe side and avoid the soldier doing something after they left.

"It's a mental sensation, it means someone is concentrating really hard and using up large amounts of mental energy. I would guess it's the Prior trying to hold back Teyla's dominance over the ship and his mind, with this much bleeding off he must be close to breaking. We can deal with him easily," Daniel said. Carefully they marched through the corridors.

"Teyla has those sorts of powers?" Scott asked.

"Yes, just like I was transformed into a Lantean she is being changed into an Alterra, but she has a long way to go still."

"So this Prior must be very powerful if he can stand against an Ancient."

"Not really their powers mostly come from their staffs, on their own a Prior is no match for Teyla and against a Lantean like me they would probably lose too, they gain most of their powers from their link to the ascended Ori."

They stopped outside a door that was constantly opening and closing, inside they could see the Prior and the bridge. Clouds of vapor was rising from the Prior as he sat in the control chair with his staff planted in the ground.

"Can we hold doors open?" Scott whispered.

"We could try, but I don't think so, unless I can connect to the systems and force the balance in favour of Teyla," Daniel answered.

"Then let's tip the balance in our favour," Scott said. He began to tap with his finger against the side of his rifle each time the door closed until he found the tempo, then he aimed and just as the door opened he fired. Inside the room the crystal on the Prior's staff shattered and a shriek rang out from the Prior. The door slammed open and they all rushed inside.

"You must hurry," Teyla spoke into Daniel's mind. He threw the Prior out of the chair and took his place, still vapor was rising from the Prior.

"He's dead, Lieutenant, but he's smoking hot," a soldier said. He was kneeling next to the Prior and had checked his pulse.

"That's what happens when you use more energy than you can handle," Daniel said calmly as he worked his way through the ship and sealed of all sections where Ori soldiers still tried to get through, slowly he lowered the oxygen levels in the rooms to keep them calm and weak.

-Daniel, Teyla just fainted,- Sheppard said through the combadge that Daniel had taken from one of the injured soldiers, the worry in his voice was clear.

"She'll be fine Colonel, I suspect she over exerted herself a bit, just give her some time to recover. We've taken the bridge and I'm locking down the ship. All our men are on the ship and the rings are already offline so you could fall back here if you wish," Daniel replied.

"So what now?" Scott asked from the door.

"Now we choose where we go," Daniel said. Mentally he was searching through the ship's charts for a world with a stargate. He felt the chair trying to tell him something but it took him several minutes to get it to say what, finally he understood it, the other Ori ships were on their way back and as Daniel had registred while looking over the systems their hyperdrive was heavily damaged.

"And what can we choose between?" Scott asked.

"Well the Ori have only partially mapped the gate network, so it would be great if anyone knew about any nearby addresses." Around them their soldiers looked confused, they were almost exclusively from the Destiny expedition.

At full sprint Sheppard came into the room. "What's our situation?" he asked.

"The other Ori ships left to chase the ships that Teyla, Ronon and Lieutenant Scott came here with, but they have turned around and are coming back. It seems they left this ship behind for a reason, the hyperdrive is damaged. We're not going to be able to outrun them and going up against them in this ship is an even worse idea. But as it is they more or less have us cornered at the edge of the Milky Way."

"Well then we just need to make sure to stay in hyperspace until we reach friendly space and can get back up," Scott said.

Daniel focused and brought up a map on the forward screen, it showed their position in the Milky Way, a large blue area around the ship and a red circle centered on the ship. "That's us, the blue area is where we can go before they catch up to us and the red area is how far the ship thinks that we can go before the hyperdrive burns out and explodes, so we should try to keep inside those lines."

"What's that?" Sheppard asked and pointed towards the edge of the map where another galaxy was cutting into the map.

"I would think that's Pegasus. But we're too far out, we're not going to be able to reach it," Daniel said.

"Can we transmit a message?" Sheppard asked.

"Sure, but unless you know what frequencies we use and the codes we encrypt subspace messages with I'm not sure we can reach anyone."

"Just transmit an open message on every frequency, who cares if the Ori ships pick it up, they can track us as it is already," Sheppard said.

"What do you want us to send?" Daniel asked.

"A set of coordinates at the edge of our reach towards Pegasus, let's just hope that it reaches someone that can help us."

"That's a bad idea, how do we know someone will get it? Why not just head towards a friendly fleet?" Scott asked.

"We have no clue where our ships are and the only way I can hope to think of to destroy the Ori ships is luring them into the orbital defenses around Earth or Atlantis. Or possibly the defenses around the supergate, heading towards Atlantis and hoping that they come to our aid is our best bet," Daniel said.

"Get us going then," Sheppard ordered. In the control chair Daniel focused and the ship jumped away.

"Alright, I'm transmitting an open message at full power on all frequencies," Daniel said after a few seconds.

"Than we can only hope for the best," Scott said before leaving the room.


	12. Chapter 11

"Alright, subspace receiver is back online," Eli said. He was lying on his back with his face stuck inside a console, not because it was a tight space but because Rush still had not mended the artificial gravity.

"Good work Eli," Colonel Young said from the control chair, he was sitting absolutely still to avoid floating around. He looked towards the com officer. "Get a message back to Earth, inform them about our situation and ask for a team of Asurans to assist with repairs."

"Eh, we have the receiver back online, but I'm still working on the transmitter," Eli said from beneath the console.

The com officer looked towards Young. "Sir, there's an incoming message. It's an open message on all channels."

"Let me hear it."

It took a few moments before it began to play. -This is Doctor Daniel Jackson of the Alterran forces, we request backup from any friendly forces. We hope to reach Atlantis but the ship we have borrowed has taken damage and we have little hope of doing so. We're being chased by three Ori ships, we are safe in hyperspace for now but the hyperdrive is likely to give up before we reach Atlantis.-

"Eli, we need that transmitter working," Young ordered.

"Yes I know, but telling me that again is not likely to help," Eli snapped.

"How far away is the closest stargate then?"

"How would I know that?" Eli yelled. He looked up and bumped his head into the console, only to float down on the floor. "You're the one in the fancy mind reading chair, why don't you use it?"

"Because I can't control it!" Young leaned back with the chair as he activated it, but he flipped over and barely managed to get a hold of the backrest as the chair moved back into sitting position. Tediously he crawled over the backrest and back into the chair. "Weightlessness is not really helping either."

"Well tell the chair to stay up when you activate it," Eli suggested.

"Can the chair do that?" Young asked.

"How would I know, I don't even have the gene to activate it. Look, just try."

Carefully Young concentrated on activating the chair, but he focused on keeping the chair up when it activated. It began to lower but stopped after a few degrees and returned to an upright position. He became curious and focused on staying in the chair, it took a few seconds before the chair responded and activated the restraints, holding him in place. He began to feel slightly more confident and ordered the chair to give him a star map. In an instant a hologram appeared above the chair, it zoomed in on the ship and they could all see the speed they had as they flew through hyperspace, then it zoomed out and highlighted a system, next to the system it showed a stargate and a gate address. The blue line that showed their course shifted with a single thought to stop at the system.

"Prepare to dial Earth." Young ordered. "Eli will our com badges reach the surface?"

"Yes, they should be able to reach anything in the vicinity of Earth, we'll be-" With a thump Eli slumped down on the floor as the artificial gravity kicked in with a hum.

-Colonel Young, we should now have gravity back online,- Rush said through Young's com badge.

"Thank you Rush, what's that humming noise?" Young asked. With gravity back the restrains of the chair retracted and released him.

-We're running some extra power through the conduits on the bridge to sustain the artificial gravity, they can handle the extra stress, but there's no getting around the noise.-

"I'm happy with just having gravity. We will be passing by a stargate to relay a message from Doctor Jackson, it seems they stole an Ori ship. I would like to have you here, Eli could use some help with the subspace transmitter."

"I'm just getting started on it right now," Eli replied.

One of the doors to the bridge had opened and Rush stepped inside. "I'm sure you will have it fixed soon Eli, I'll see what other systems we need to fix."

###

The Ori ship let out a groan as the hyperdrive gave up and they dropped out of hyperspace. Daniel was sitting in the control chair, he tried to get the hyperdrive back online a few times before giving up and sending all power to the shields. A moment later the three Ori ships dropped out of hyperspace behind them. The ship was floating in space between Pegasus and the Milky Way, far from any stars or planets.

"Colonel Sheppard, we lost the hyperdrive," Daniel reported into his com badge.

-I will be right there,- Sheppard replied.

Daniel commanded the ship around and it began to turn. One by one the Ori ships began to fire their plasma beams at them and Daniel could feel the strain on the shields. Another barrage slammed into their side and Daniel felt several systems on the ship shut down, including life support. He tried to charge the main weapon but he got no response from it. He kept turning their ship to face the Ori ships, but one of the subspace engines exploded and took their shield with it.

At just that moment Sheppard stepped inside. "What's our status?"

"Quite screwed, we lost shields and one of the sublight engines a few moments ago. Weapons are offline, life support is offline. Gravity is online and doors are still locked down."

"Well at least we tried. Send a message to them, we're ready to surrender on the condition that no one is hurt," Sheppard said.

"Yea, but we lost that capability in hyperspace, it burnt out while transmitting our emergency message. I guess you could always try your combadge and see if it will connect to anything on the Ori ships."

"So you're telling me we're sitting dead in deep space between two galaxies? Whose idea was this anyway?"

"Yes that sums it up. But look on the bright side, at least we can die free."

"You know what Daniel, I'd prefer not to die."

-Colonel Sheppard, we're being boarded,- Lieutenant Scott shouted through the com badges.

"Looks like we're going back into that cage Daniel," Sheppard growled as he ran out of the bridge with drawn weapon. Daniel stayed in the control chair, desperately trying to get the ship working again.

He saw the beams of light coming from the Ori ships as they ringed over trops. Without any sort of warning the three ships moved away from them and stopped sending troops. Sheppard came running back to the bridge half a minute after, Scott followed just behind.

"What did you do?" Sheppard asked. They could all see the Ori ships facing away from them. They could still hear the sounds of plasma fire and explosions.

"Nothing, they just moved away," Daniel explained. He tried to query the sensors but they only gave him incomplete readings.

"Well we have several Priors in the ring room that's preventing us from destroying the rings," Sheppard said.

"They still need more soldiers here to take back the ship," Scott said.

"Well we locked in plenty of soldiers who were already on the ship, if they free them and get them back into fighting shape they'll have no problem getting the ship back. How's Teyla doing?" Daniel asked.

"She's resting in an adjacent room," Sheppard said. "She's in no shape to take them on."

"Then we hope it's Atlantis who's got the Ori ships wound up," Scott said.

"I guess we can hope," Daniel said.

"Is there any chance that we can take on the Priors? Neutralize them or kill them?" Scott asked.

"Well we could overload the ship's power core, that should kill them and the other Ori soldiers," Daniel said casually.

"So no way?"

"I don't think so, Colonel Sheppard and I could probably deal with two, but three would tip the scales too far in their favour."

"We have several Lanteans here, surely they can help too?"

"Well Colonel Sheppard here had the gene naturally before he got the treatment so he will have an easier time controlling what little powers the Lantean transformation gives. I have been training to use the Lantean powers, but I'd only be helping Colonel Sheppard, he would have to do the heavy lifting I'm afraid. It takes Lanteans years of training and meditation to hone and control the powers, I'm afraid no one has had that time yet."

In front of them a large purple hyperspace window opened a gigantic black ship dropped out of hyperspace.

"Is that one of ours or one of theirs?" Scott asked.

"I've never seen it before," Sheppard said.

"Few have. That ship destroyed both the Deadalus, the Hammond and a deserted Alterran farm in a single attack. Jack barely got away if I remember correctly, this may have bought us a few minutes at most, then this ship will be destroyed too."

Ronon stepped inside. "We found another set of rings but we can't activate them."

"Where? I checked the blueprints, there's only one set of rings on this ship," Daniel said.

"We tore down a wall to flank the Priors and found some sort of secret room."

"That would explain why you didn't find it," Sheppard said. "A way out for the Priors if things go down the drain."

"No, the Ori don't care about the Priors, they're expendable. It could be for Adria, a way for her to come and go without anyone knowing," Daniel said.

"Well none of our men can get it working, there's no consoles in the room, but we could have destroyed them when we blew the wall," Ronon admitted.

"It could be mental, most can be activated mentally." Daniel looked at Sheppard who took the cue.

"I'll see if I can activate it," Sheppard said. He disappeared out the door with Ronon in tow. Ronon took point and led Sheppard into a corridor just a few meters from the bridge. The entire wall on one side was gone and all of the rooms that now lay open were quarters, except for the room where Ronon's men were waiting.

"You sure there wasn't a door on this side?" Sheppard asked when he saw the destruction and the lack of doors on the remaining walls.

"Just a plain wall and a handful of trinkets on the wall," Ronon replied.

Sheppard stepped over the debris and into the space the soldiers had cleared around the rings. He knelt down and touched the rings, there was no doubt that he could activate the rings.

"Get a large team Ready Ronon, I'm sending you over." Sheppard stepped out into the corridor and activated his combadge. "Lieutenant Scott, you and Ronon will be leading a group through the rings."

-Copy that Sir, I'll gather some men and come find you,- Scott replied.

"Daniel, can I get these rings to search and find another pair of rings that are hidden like these?"

-They should understand if you ask them to seek out a set of rings without external controls,- Daniel replied.

"Good, keep me informed if anything happens and seal of everything between us and the priors." He stepped back into the ring room and felt the walls, searching for any other mental components.

It took a minute before Ronon marched back into the room with a dozen men. They stepped inside the rings at the same time as Scott arrived with his men.

"I'll give you five seconds to get out of the rings before I send Lieutenant Scott through," Sheppard said. He touched the rings and they rose from the ground. As soon as they saw the rings lowering Scott and his men hurried inside and Sheppard gave a short count before activating the rings.

On the bridge of the ship Daniel was focusing on the ship's systems when he saw the bright white beam that jumped away towards the black ship. He looked up just as the second white beam jumped away towards the black ship.

"Stop sending people Sheppard," Daniel yelled into his com badge.

-What's happening?- Sheppard asked.

"You're sending them to the other ship," Daniel explained.

-How?-

"I don't know, there must be rings on that ship." He changed targets on his combadge to include Ronon and Scott. "Ronon, Scott. Do you hear me?"

-Loud and clear Doctor Jackson,- Scott replied. -I don't think we ended up on one of the Ori ships. It looks more like an Earth ship.-

"Can you activate the rings?" Daniel asked.

-No sir, there are no intact controls in this room. We will try to see if there's something useful in the vicinity.-

"Daniel, what's happening?" Sheppard asked after he returned to the bridge.

"Somehow you ended up ringing them to that ship." Daniel pointed towards the black ship that was in the process of destroying the Ori ships, it had already destroyed one of the Ori ships.

"So there is some sort of ring platform there?"

"There has to be, the question is how it got there. As you heard it looks like they're on one of our ships. Maybe the ship scanned the Hammond or the Deadalus and replicated parts of them."

"Well we have to get them back here, can't we just activate the rings from here?" Sheppard asked.

"Well of course we could, but this ship is as good as dead, that ship could be a better life line."

"And where would that leave us?"

"On a ship with life support that will survive this encounter," Daniel said.

"So the upside is that we will live another few hours?"

"Yes..." Daniel trailed of as he saw another hyperspace window open behind the black ship, out came the Nest.

-This is Colonel Samantha Carter to all Allterran personnel. Prepare to be beamed on board,- Sam's voice sounded through their com badges. It took just a few moments before they were both beamed away.


	13. Chapter 12

Colonel Carter was standing on the bridge of the Nest as it raced through hyperspace. Next to her Jack was standing as a hologram.

"Are we sure you're on the right course?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I already told you twice Jack, we're following the exact course that Daniel sent us. And if we got the wrong course or they're going of course there's always the forty eight Traveler ships you have searching outside our sensor range. We'll find them as long as the message Colonel Young relayed to Earth is correct," she answered.

"How far can they have gone with a broken hyperdrive?"

"A damaged hyperdrive could take them to Atlantis, but it could also overload the moment they enter hyperspace, so they're somewhere between here and there."

"Could you just give me a straight answer Sam? Daniel is out there in danger because we put him in danger, we need to get him back."

"Jack. Daniel's been in danger ever since he joined the SGC, I'll find him and bring him back, along with the others."

Next to Jack a large scrambled hologram appeared. "Ma'am, we've detected something at the edge of our sensor range, straight on our course," a tech said.

"Will someone shut of that alarm?" Jack shouted as his hologram began to break up. He looked at her. "I'-e go-..." His hologram faded away.

"Everyone to battle stations, try to get Atlantis back." She returned to the control chair and sat down. She powered up the weapons one by one and began to fill their buffers with power. She knew how big the object on their sensors had to be for them to pick it up that far out.

Slowly the quality of the hologram improved and they could all see the four smaller dots around the large object. The minutes passed and the sensors began to given them measurements of the objects.

"Ma'am I've tried to diagnose the sensors, but I can't find anything wrong with them," one of the tech said.

"They work as they should, we're just looking at something very large," Sam replied. Slowly she began to realise just what they were looking at. "Tweak power distribution, eighty percent to shields. Evenly distribute the rest."

"That will leave our weapons low on power Ma'am," one of the gunners in the control chairs behind her on the bridge said.

"Yes, but we will be sure to survive until we know what we're dealing with."

"Yes Ma'am."

Without warning one of the small objects disappeared from the sensors. Two of the three remaining small objects began to circle around the large object and a few minutes later another one vanished.

Finally they were close enough that the sensors began to detect weapons fire, less than a minute out.

"That confirms it, we're in for a fight," Sam said.

She felt the tension in the room rising as they prepared.

The seconds slowly passed until they finally broke out of hyperspace behind the large black ship.

Straight away Sam activated the generator's stabiliser and activated it. Quickly the power surging through the ship increased.

They only had a few seconds before the black ship began to turn around and fire towards them, but their shields held.

She activated the subspace communicator. "This is Colonel Samantha Carter of the Alterran forces, seize your aggressive actions or prepare to be fired upon."

There was a seconds pause. -Sam, stop acting high and mighty and beam us of this ship,- Daniel's voice shouted through Sam's com badge.

Sam nodded towards one of the techs who locked on to the com badges and began to beam Daniel, Scott and the other men to the decontamination chamber on the ship.

-Sergeant Greer here Ma'am, we're facing resistance and need extraction.-

Sam looked towards the tech who shaked her head. "They are on board the black ship Ma'am, I am unable to lock on to their signal, the ship's shielding is blocking our scanners," the tech said.

"You need to disable the ship's shield before we can beam you here," Sam replied.

###

Greer cursed as he heard Sam's reply. He taped his com badge. "Ronon, how are things outside?" He was standing in a corridor outside the ring room of the Earth ship that they had ringed to, inside the huge black ship.

-I think we're dealing with internal defenses, or they're too cowardly to approach. The fire is still coming from the same places,- Ronon replied.

"Copy that, Colonel Sam has just informed me that we need to disable the ship's shield for them to beam us out."

-I doubt we can do that from here, you saw what happened to Henry when the turrets hit him. We're stuck here.-

"I'll inform Colonel Carter." Greer tapped the badge again and switched it back to Sam. "We're stuck inside the debris of an Earth ship, internal defenses are stopping us from going outside."

-Do you have access to any systems?- Sam asked.

"Systems Ma'am? As soon as we go outside we get blasted by plasma bolts," Greer said.

-You said you were on a ship from Earth, can you access a console?-

"No Ma'am, there is no power running through the section of the ship we are in. The engine room is in a section a few hundred meters from this section."

-So the ships is broken into pieces? Do you know where you are?-

"Yes the ship is broken up Ma'am, we are close to the ring room. We have access to the bridge and an armory but not much else."

-Head to the rings, look for a breaker in the room. Depending on which ship you are on there could be several, you want the one with the grey handle and orange body. There will be a screen next to it.-

"Yes Ma'am." He turned around and stepped into the the ring room. On the far side of the room he saw a row of breakers and one that matched. He jogged up to it and put his hand on it, he began to pull it down but stopped when he noticed that there was no screen next to it. He looked around again and saw another one, with a screen, behind some pipes. He rushed up to it and pulled it down, next to it the screen began to glow as it booted up. "The screen is coming to life."

-Good work Sergeant, now we need to work fast, the screen is pulling power from the rings buffer so it will last a while, but once we begin to power up system it will drain fast.-

"Yes Ma'am." His voice trembled slightly.

-Sergeant are you confident with computers?-

"No Ma'am. But we have no eggheads here."

-Find some wires and an extra combadge Sergeant, we can try to rig up something for me to remote control the console.-

"Yes Ma'am." He walked over to a wall where something had exploded and a bunch of wires were sticking out. He janked the wires and felt them cutting into his hand as he pulled. He cursed as the blood began to drip from his hand. He pulled out his combat knife and watched the sparks fly as he cut through the cables. He wiped his hand and nodded towards one of the soldiers in the ring room. He soldier removed his combadge and tossed it over to Greer. "Ma'am, I have wires and a com badge."

-There should be a panel below the screen, pull it open and you should see fives holes, put a cable in each. Then look at the combadge And you will see several small holes, counting from the top counterclockwise find the sixth and seventh hole and put the first and second cables into them. Then go to the twelfth, fourteenth and twentieth hole, insert the cables in order.-

"Yes Ma'am." He used the knife to pry away the panel below the screen and found a lot more than five holes. "Ma'am, the ship has way more holes."

-Just go for the first five.-

He plugged the cables into the wall and then into the com badge. "All done Ma'am."

-Good tap the combadge and connect it to me, I'll take care of the rest.- Greer just barely touched the combadge before Sam connected through the combadge's subspace link. She worked quickly to interface the combadge to the ship's systems, she had helped design and build most things on the Earth ships and she knew them inside and out. In a few seconds she was in control of the console and was working her way through the ship's systems, for each system she accessed the power drained faster and faster.

"Ma'am what's the plan?" Greer asked as he saw things flashing by one the screen before him.

-I am trying to override the safeties on the Asgard weapons, with some luck it can punch a hole in the hull and the shield from the inside.-

"That sounds like a bad plan Ma'am," Greer complained.

-Well you have a few minutes to come up with something else before I am ready Sergeant," Sam replied.

"Yes Ma'am." He thought for two minutes before giving up and tapping his com badge. "Ronon, pull back to the ring room, Colonel Carter is going to try something to get us out."

###

Back on the bridge of the Nest Sam was working quickly, in front of her holograms showing blueprints and system documentation for the 304s' were floating.

Next to her Daniel was looking sceptical, he had rushed up from decontamination. "This seems stupid Sam."

"Seems like a normal day for us Daniel. We will start with a small charge and work our way up," she replied.

"Well you're right about that, still seems stupid. And where are you getting the power to fire the Asgard weapons?" Outside the ship the big black ship was still firing towards them.

"The weapon's internal capacitors hold several charges so power to the weapon is no issue." She tapped her com badge. "Sergeant Greer, stand ready. Firing in three, two, one."

-No effect Ma'am,- Greer reported.

"Stand by Sergeant, I'll increase the yield." It took a few seconds before she was ready. "We're going for half yield this time."

-Yes Ma'am.-

A few moments later a bright blue beam shot out from the black ship. It struck the lone Ori ship that exploded on contact.

"Hurry up," Daniel urged as the black ship began to move away from the Nest while the barrage of plasma bolts coming from the black ship increased. One by one the soldiers were beamed away from the black ship.

When the last soldier was of the ship Sam pushed all the power in the capacitor into the Asgard weapon of the 304 and an explosion erupted from the side of the black ship. A few moments later everyone looking at the big black ship saw how it warped around itself, the sensor readings began to jump sporadically and then it was gone. No debris, no sensor readings, no energy readings, just gone.

"Prepare probes for phase scanning," Sam ordered. Instantly people on the bridge began to work.

"What's that?" Daniel asked.

"Just some probes outfitted with phasing technology, they can go out of phase, just like Arthur's mantle, and scan for things, in this case we're looking for that ship."

"Right, I think I'll go have some sleep then, torture is exhausting," Daniel said.


	14. Chapter 13

Rya'c was standing on the balcony of his home. He had ordered several small houses to be built near the gate, enough to house almost all of the two thousand Jaffa that they had supplies for, but the Jaffa had gone against him and had changed the design of one of the houses to a three story timber house, for him and Kar'yn. Still the settlement was growing quickly, they were getting close to a thousand Jaffa and housing was growing scarce. But with more hands helping things were growing faster and faster.

He was looking towards the town hall that was under construction closer to the fields, just outside town, it was the first stone building they were constructing on the world. The stone was being transported from a quarry they had opened into the side of a nearby mountain and was being pulled on large carts down to the site.

The datapad in his hand bussed a few times to catch his attention. Rya'c looked at it and saw a message from one of the group leaders at the mine they were trying to dig nearby the quarry. The message asked for more Jaffa and Rya'c accepted the request. He used the datapad to assign a few more Jaffa to the mine and checked the status of the town hall afterwards. It was still a long way to go, but the outer walls were soon done.

He double checked the messages on his datapad to see if there was something he needed to deal with. When he was done he turned around and walked through the wooden door into the house. It smelled of spices and food inside. He walked down the stairs to the kitchen where Kar'yn was cooking up a meal for Bra'tac who was due for a visit during the day, his first to the new world.

"So how are things today?" she asked. She was standing over the fireplace along the opposite wall, she was stirring the large pot that hung over the fire with a large ladle.

"Well everyone else is working and here I am, simply standing around pointing my fingers towards things," Rya'c responded.

"You are their leader Rya'c, they need you to point your fingers towards the things that need to be done, they need direction. Your father and Bra'tac have always seen this side of you, I think it is why they picked you for this."

"Perhaps, still I should be out there working with them, not stand here."

"And if you were not waiting for Bra'tac I guess you would be, just like you always are."

"Perhaps. Is there something you need help with here?"

She spun around from the pot, ladle in hand. "No, but you should go to the gate and wait for Bra'tac, he will be here soon."

"Yes and I want things to be perfect."

"To start with I would like to be able to cook a single meal for us and not have someone else bring the food for us, so unless you want me to smack you with this you shut up and let me do this." She swung the ladle in front of here.

"Now dear, I only wish to help."

She swung the ladle towards him and he took a few steps backwards, towards the door. "Get out and don't come back until after you've given Bra'tac a proper tour of the sites." With the ladle in hand she drove him out of the room.

Once he had gotten out and closed the door behind him he began the walk down towards the gate. He was still holding the datapad in his hand as he came closer to the gate, it informed him that there was an incoming wormhole and he began to run towards the gate. He came past the houses where the Travelers lived right by the gate and Bra'tac was already standing there waiting for him.

"Ah, Rya'c there you are," Bra'tac said. "How are things going here?"

"Master Bra'tac," Rya'c said and bowed. "Things are moving forward quickly. We have constructed houses for almost everyone, only a handful are still living in tents, but by the end of the week we will have houses for everyone."

"You have already built enough houses?" Bra'tac asked in surprise.

"Yes, come I will show you what we have done." Rya'c motioned for the forest where the well and fields were located.

"Lead the way Rya'c."

"I hope you are ready for a walk, the well and fields are not far but the quarry and mine is quite the distance away." Rya'c led the way into the forest on a narrow path that joined the main road between the well and the settlement a few hundred meters ahead, they followed the road a short distance to the large clearing where they had dug the well and plowed their fields.

"Are these the plants that Mokar was talking about? The plants that can grow in a matter of days?" Bra'tac asked when Rya'c led him in between the rows of the fields.

"Yes, this is the second harvest these fields have given us, but the crops are anything but pleasant to eat. We try to use them to stretch the other food we can gather and hunt and use plenty of species to hide the flavour. I am sure you will know the taste when you eat with us today."

"It is sad that we have to eat such poor food, but it is better than starving."

"Yes of course." They cleared the field and arrived at the stone well. "This well provides enough water for us all, but we have already planned several more wells to make sure we have water when more Jaffa comes, we have also planned for more farms, with more edible food."

"I see that you are planning far ahead Rya'c, that is wise. If you are ready I will make sure that more Jaffa come here," Bra'tac said. He threw down the bucket into the well and hauled it back up filled with crystal clear water. "I am impressed that you have found such clear water in a well."

"It was the Alterran system that suggested this precise location, it knew that the ground was softer here than where I thought that the well should be. It seems there is a river far to the north that goes beneath the ground, it flows through the ground where we have placed the well, it is also the reason our fields are here, the water brings minerals to the crops." He pointed towards several smaller fields where they grew other crops. "There we have begun to farm other crops."

"Clever planning I must say. You also said that you have opened a quarry and a mine. How are the yields?"

"I will show you, that is the next location I will show you. The mine is still being dug, but the quarry is giving us a good amount of stones for the town hall. We are making sure that you have a suite to suit your status as ruler of the Jaffa." He lead Bra'tac away from the fields and towards a narrow foot path through the forest that he usually took when he passed from the fields to the quarry during his checks.

"The Alterran city will serve as my seat of power Rya'c, this planet is yours to lead."

"Are you sure Master Bra'tac? You are the ruler, it's only fitting that you have a home on each world that the Jaffa control," Rya'c protested.

"You have missed the point Rya'c, I am not a ruler of the Jaffa, I am the leader of those Jaffa who choose to follow me. A ruler does what he think will benefit himself, I lead the Jaffa because the Jaffa trust me to do what is best for them and when I can no longer do that a new leader must be chosen. Therefore I do not need a suite in every Jaffa town or on every planet, as long as I am needed to lead the Jaffa I will lead from the city, when I am no longer needed I will find a peaceful place and make myself a house where I can live out the rest of my days."

They passed into the darkness of the forest and the damp air inside.

"I apologize Master Bra'tac, you are right. But the Jaffa still see you as a ruler, you are the one in charge."

"Yes, I am the one in charge. But I ask you this, why am I the one in charge?"

"Because you and my father have always seen the truth about the Jaffas' slavery to the Goa'uld and the threat of the Ori. You are in charge because you were first prime of Apophis and together with my father you are the only first primes who still lives, that honor still carries heavy in the minds of the Jaffa."

Bra'tac let out a laugh and the birds in the trees around them took to the skies. "There are many first primes still alive Rya'c, it is true that few served a system lord, but that should be considered no honor but a disgrace. And it is not because I saw what the Goa'uld were. No, it's is because the Jaffa choose to follow me young one, in their minds I am the leader they need."

"Yes but the Jaffa think this of you because of what you have done in the past."

"Perhaps, but then why do they choose to follow you? Have you earned their respect through battle and servitude of false gods?"

"They follow me because of you and my father, they follow you and you told them to follow me here and do as I say, they respect my father and the large shadow he casts and in that shadow I live, I would think that is why."

"Perhaps at first they did so because of me and Teal'c, but all that you have here now on this planet is because you have been a good and respectable leader, that is why they follow you now. I spoke to several of the Jaffa who returned to the camp around the city for their families, there is talk of the great plans you must have for the planet and the future of the Jaffa. So tell me Rya'c, what plans do you have?"

"We are simply trying to build a settlement that can grow without the need to build on top of the old structures, that is why we have chosen not to construct anything to close to the gate. In a few years time when we have metals and advanced technology we will build a great base around the gate, like the Tau'ri did. But for now we simply try to give the Jaffa a future."

"That is your plan? To get metals and build a base around the gate?"

"Of course there are other plans to get there. Such as the mine, we hope to dig deep to the metals so that we can begin to discover the secrets of electricity. With electricity in our grasp it should be easier to work the fields, to cut wood and dig down into the ground."

"That is a much better plan Rya'c." They stepped out of the forest and saw the hundreds of Jaffa that were running around on the side of a mountain. Carved straight into the mountain was a large quarry were the Jaffa was breaking stone. "Is this the quarry where you get stone for the townhall?"

"Yes, the majority of the Jaffa are working here. We have produced plenty of stone, more than we need for the town hall, but the more we mine now the more we will have when we begin to construct homes of stone."

"Are the wooden houses not good? Do they not hold the wind outside and the heat inside?"

"Yes, wood seems to hold the wind outside and the heat inside much better, but for now we will need to build the houses close together and if we used wood a single mistake could burn down the entire settlement. Therefor we must use stone."

"Good Rya'c, you learn fast. But if you replace the wooden houses you have with stone houses you will need to replace them once again when you can build buildings of metal." Quite some distance away Bra'tac could see a large mound of dirt that Jaffa were constantly adding to. "That is what you have dug out of the mine so far?"

"Yes, we are trying to reach a depth where there is plenty of metals, the datapads have shown that this mountain contains enough metals to last us several years."

"Do not think that a single mountain can hold that much metal Rya'c. The datapads may think that, but do they know of all the Jaffa who are still waiting to come through the gate?"

"Hm, I do not know if the datapads know such things." Rya'c led them along the side of the quarry, towards the dirt mound and the road that the Jaffa were pulling the wagons with the stones on back to the town hall. Right next to them they could see the large piles of stone blocks they had broken lying along the edge of the quarry.

"Why would they? Use the datapads as a support but do not rely on them, rely on your own knowledge and wisdom to make the decisions."

"Yes Master Bra'tac." They passed the mound of dirt and Bra'tac picked up a large red rock.

"Look closely at this stone Rya'c, this stone contains metal. I believe it is Iron, this is what you have thrown away. The very thing that you are searching for."

Bra'tac handed the stone to Rya'c. Rya'c twisted it in his hand. "Are you sure old man? This does not look like any form of Iron I have seen. How do you know that this is Iron?"

"I am not sure that it is Iron, but I am sure that it contains metals. Do you not learn what the Lanteans try to teach you?"

"I have not had the time to spend time with the Lanteans, I am busy planning the settlement and trying to make sure enough Jaffa are assigned to all of the tasks."

"And how many Jaffa have been there? Who are chosen to oversee the work?"

"We need every able body working, so therefor I oversee the work here, the datapads help with much of the logistics."

Bra'tac frowned. "Then you mean the Lanteans teach no one?"

"They teach the young and the old, those who have time."

"Why?!"

Rya'c look puzzled. "Because the young and old often are too weak to work in the fields, or break stone in the quarries. We need to keep working so that we make steady progress."

Bra'tac walked forward a few steps in front of Rya'c. "Then you are a fool. What do you think the Lanteans are to teach you? How to look good for a visit to a temple? They will show you all that they can, they will show you how to know what is metal, how you get it out of the rock, you only need to ask them. That is how you make progress, that is the new way for the Jaffa. Throwing Jaffa at a problem will not solve it, thinking is what is needed."

"I am no fool." Rya'c lashed out at Bra'tac with his left fist, a feigned to hide the kick he was going to plant at the back of Bra'tac's knees. But Bra'tac raised his arm and let the fist connect, then he grabbed Rya'c's leg as it came and pulled. In the blink of an eye Rya'c found himself lying on his back on the ground.

"Yes you are, if you think that violence will solve this situation. I give you three days to put things on hold, then I expect all of the halls the Lanteans have for teaching to be full. Those Jaffa who can not fit inside are yours to command as you see fit. You yourself will be learning too. If you do not do this I will find someone who understands the need for learning in our society." He began to wander back towards the gate on the wide road while Jaffa began to surround Rya'c who was struggling to get up.

As soon as he got up Rya'c stormed after Bra'tac. He got back to the gate just in time to see Bra'tac walking through it. With Bra'tac gone he turned around and walked back to his house. When he walked inside Kar'yn was placing cups and plates on the heavy wooden table. She looked up to him when he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Where is Bra'tac?" she asked.

"He has left the planet, he was not happy with how I have done things." He pulled out one of the chairs and slumped down on it.

"So what was it that he thought you had done wrong?" She did not even turn to look at him, she simply kept making the table for two people.

"He thinks that I should have more men being taught by the Lanteans, he thinks that I do not see enough worth in the knowledge they have."

"And what have I told you for several weeks?" she asked as she filled his plate.

"That knowledge is worth more than Naquadah. It seems you both think that I am doing wrong."

"I do not think you are doing it wrong I think that you are doing it the way you think is best, but perhaps it would be wise to listen to those around you. Not everyone will see things in the same way and Bra'tac has lived far longer than us both, he is wise."

Rya'c grabbed the spoon and began to eat, he nodded slowly a few times and swallowed. "Perhaps you are right. I will go to the Lanteans in the morning and see what they can offer. And I will take some men with me."  
She opened the shutters that acted as their window towards the gate and pointed. As the light outside was slowly fading light was coming out of the other houses through gaps in the doors and shutters, but next to the gate the Lantean housing was shining like a beacon with their electrical lights. "That is what they offer Rya'c, advanced technology. Our future."

He nodded again and smiled towards her. "Yes you are right. I will learn from them, we all will."

"Good." She sat down across the table and began to eat.


	15. Chapter 14

It was the day after the Ori incident and Teal'c and his crew and his ships were finally ready. A small fleet of Hermes class ships were hanging in space outside the forcefields of Athyl, the Alterran shipyard. Originaly the fleet was a handfull of ships but they had constructed several more ships, bringing the total number up to fifteen. The last one was still sitting in drydock, waiting for Teal'c.

"Good luck out there Teal'c," Sam said and gave him a hug.

"Thank you Colonel Carter. We will complete the mission and return as soon as we can," Teal'c responded. "Can you perform a favour while I am away?"

"Of course."

"Talk to Rya'c when you have time. He has had trouble with Bra'tac and I believe it would be good for him to talk to someone."

"I will talk to him when there is time," Sam promised.

"Good."

"Now that your fleet stands ready I will allocate more resources to the Jaffa," Mokar said.

"Good, it will be much needed."

"Yes." Mokar said. "But I will have most of it going to resource production on the planet. I need the Jaffa to be self sustaining as soon as possible."

"They will understand," Teal'c said. "I will report when we arrive in Lega." He turned around and crossed the ramp onto the ship, he turned around just as the doors closed and gave them one last look. He tapped his com badge. "Teal'c to the bridge. We are good to go, set a course for Lega."

Two Jaffa were standing further inside the airlock and fell in behind him when he passed.

-Copy that, we are leaving the dock.-

Teal'c felt how the ship rocketed slightly as it began to back out of dock. Less than a minute later he was on the bridge and watched as they backed out of the forcefield. He sat down in the control chair as the ship joined the fleet and took up point. Together the fleet moved away from the asteroid field before jumping to hyperspace.

The Hermes class was roughly the size of a 304 going sideways, they were just eighty meters long and forty meters high, but instead two hundred meters wide. Meant to be explorative frigates they were only armed with drones and a single APB, but it made up for its lack of weapons with cloak and both FTL and hyperspace drives, as well as a stargate on each ship since they were small ships deploying far away without support.

* * *

A few weeks had passed since the Ori incident and Teal'c's departure and things were settling down again. During that entire time Sam and the crew of the Nest had tried to understand just what had happened to the big black ship. Now Sam had arrived through the gate in Atlantis. Waiting for her was Jack who put his arms around her as soon as she was free from the gate.

"It's good to see you," he said. It had been a long time since they had seen each other.

She gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Well there is a gate here and a gate on the Nest, you could just come on over Jack." She leaned in closer. "Even if it's just for a night."

"I will come by when I have a chance honey, it's just a bit busy. We have a lot of issues on Earth now that the S.E.N is gone, don't get me wrong the Ori did us a favour when they bombed that peace meeting in a sort of twisted way. The S.E.N forces have accepted that we won, but we still have a lot of things to take care of and since Mokar thinks that anyone who wants to join us needs to do so out of their own free will we first need to establish some form of democratic rule over Earth and that's not something anyone on our payroll has any experience with, so Daniel is having some problem getting people to accept a unified Earth government. There's been quite a lot of unrest about that, and the fact that some people still think we're aliens bent on conquering Earth. Which we have already done, now we're trying to give it back to them but they don't seem to realise that."

"Just give it some time Jack, they'll come around eventually," Sam said as they walked up into the control room.

"I hope so, the Wraith are increasing their activity and we need the men and equipment back here in Pegasus as soon as possible."

"Don't forget the Ori, until they are dealt with we need to keep the men and equipment in the Milky Way."

"Yes I know. So what brings you to Atlantis? I thought you liked to be in command of the most powerful ship in our fleet?"

"I like the ship, but we have finished the analysis of the vanishing of the black ship, I am reporting to Mokar with our findings."

"Last time I checked Colonel Carter I was your CO, you report to me," Jack teased.

"Last time I checked Jack I was your wife, so you report to me," she replied.

"You're right as always sweetheart. Anything I need to know about?"

"Well yes, but I won't be going through this twice so come along."

"Fine, Mokar's on the station dealing with the Asgard and the Vanir. Some dispute over unit testing of the bodies."

"I hope he has settled it."

Jack focused on the city's mental interface and the transporters. "I hope so too." The colours of the room shifted around them and in a second they appeared in the station's control room. Before the control room had been maned by Asurans, but given the lack of Neutronium Lanteans were now manning the station.

Sam turned to one of the Lanteans. "Inform Mokar that we've arrived."

"He is already waiting for you in one of the conference rooms. I will transport you there if you wish," the Lantean replied.

"Go right ahead," Jack said. The Lantean nodded and turned back to the console. Moments later they found themselves standing in one of the conference rooms on the station, a large table was in the center of the room with several chairs around it and along the entire outer wall was a panoramic window. In one of the chairs Mokar was seated.

"Good, you are finished with the examination of the incident with the big black ship?" Mokar asked.

"Yes," Sam said. She took out a small storage drive from a pocket and plugged it into the table. After a few moments a hologram appeared over the table, it showed several diagrams and sensor readings. "These are the readings we got from the seconds when we punched a hole through the ship's disruptive field up until it disappeared."

"Have you determined how the ship vanished?" Mokar asked.

"No, not quite." She focused on the table and mentally switched the holograms, she pushed down all but one, which showed a partial curve. "We detected a sharp rise in this subspace signal."

"Is that the background signal that Destiny was tracking?" Jack asked.

"So you recognise it?" Sam asked surprised.

"Of course, I headed up Homeworld Command and saw quite a lot of it during the briefings. I am not as stupid as I look Sam."

"No I'm well aware of that Jack. Now this is a part of the signal which we have only had fragments of before. Combined with the fragments we recovered from Destiny we have managed to decipher part of the signal, it seems that the signal in itself contains several sub signals. It was one of these signals that spiked."

"Do you know what the purpose of this signal is?" Mokar asked.

"We believe that it is a command signal, given that Sergeant Greer and Ronon reported that the defenses were automated it could also be a control signal."

"Interesting, how many other sub signals are there?"

"That is yet to be determined since we only have a single sub signal, with more we could possibly determine that."

"Sounds like a piece of cake. You know where we can find any more of these ships then?" Jack asked.

"No, but thanks to the sub signal that we can now access I have determined a point of origin that differ from the one Destiny is headed towards," Sam said.

"A different source?" Mokar asked.

"Yes, given how far away from the source we are I am unable to determine an exact point of origin, but it definitely differs from the origin."

"Then is the original signal only used as a carrier signal?"

"That is possible, but without more information I doubt that we can tell you more."

Jack sighted. "I'll have Colonel Young and the expedition prepare then."

"Why?" Mokar asked.

Jack saw the glare in Sam's eyes. "She's going to suggest that we send Destiny towards the source and try to gather more information."

"Given what happened when we recovered Colonel Young and the men I am not sure what shape Destiny is in," Mokar said.

"General O'Neill is correct," Sam said. Her voice was cold. "I think it is wise to send them back to Destiny, if they are willing to go. I have already dialed Destiny and pulled a diagnosis from her systems, she is in terrible shape but nothing worse than when the expedition arrived. With materials and Asurans I am sure that they can fix the worst of the damage inside of a month, but many of her systems are substandard. With more materials and more time we could have her combat efficiency increased by a factor of twelve. Her scanning capabilities could also be improved significantly."

"Contact Colonel Young and assemble the expedition to see what they think about it," Mokar said.

"There's also another thing we could benefit from getting an expedition back on board Destiny," Jack said.

"Yes I was getting to that," Sam said with a glare. She changed the hologram to show a planet. "This is new Novus, a world where a few hundred thousands humans are building a new home for themselves. They are advanced by most standards, somewhere between Earth technology and Lantean technology. These humans are not of great interest to us, but there is also several huge arks on their way to this planet filled with humans. They will not arrive on this planet for several hundred years because they have not developed hyperdrive or FTL yet. But we have several options for how we could assist these ships on their journey. A hyperspace cradle to tow the ships is an option, we could give them hyperspace technology to allow them to eventually get to these ships and help them by themselves. We can of course also plant gates so that they can gate their people from the ships to the planet. Either way these are several million humans that could host a base to help Destiny and the expedition."

"I think we will leave that choice to the expedition when the time comes," Mokar said.

"I will have Colonel Young and his men prepare," Jack said.

"Then we have a green light?" Sam asked.

Both Mokar and Jack nodded. "I think this evidence brings a new light to the situation, if the ship is somehow connected to the background signal I think that it is worth seeing what comes from it. And if we're sending people there that opens up a large number of planets for exploitation," Mokar said.

"How is Doctor McKay and Zelenka's resource project coming along?" Jack asked.

"Is there any projects you don't know about General?" Mokar asked in surprise.

"I hope not, the more I know about the easier it is for me to manage things."

"What exactly are we talking about?" Sam asked.

"A small project to automate mining on a smaller scale. In all honesty the Alterran infrastructure was built on a massive scale, a scale that we can not hope to replicate. So we need to think smaller, instead of two or three massive stations striping solar systems of all materials I hope that we can have hundreds of thousands of smaller facilities that give us materials. But to answer your question Jack, it is coming along well. They have handed off deployment to a small team that are setting up hundreds of harvest stations around both Pegasus and the Milky Way, each supporting several mining stations. They are also due to deploy a handful of processing stations where the mined minerals can be sent. So far everything is working just as it should."

"How much materials are we talking about?" Sam asked.

"Enough to make a dent in our immediate concerns, but compared to the resources we get from the Alterran mining station it is but a drop in an ocean. Then again, it is a start," Mokar said.

"Then we give the expedition the means to start one of these resource and production stations and they will not need to rely on us for materials. They can construct a proper gate and a ship to carry it to new Novus, how they proceed from there I will leave to Colonel Young and the others," Jack said.

"That is acceptable," Mokar said. "It seems there is work to be done, Colonel Carter could you go over the data from Destiny and see which systems we want to repair and which systems we should replace entirely."

"I will see to it," Sam said.

"Good." Mokar stood up and walked towards the door. "I will leave it to you two to see this through. If possible send through a team to secure Destiny today, that way they can find a safe system to deploy their resource station."

"So can you sustain a wormhole to Destiny?" Jack asked after Mokar had left.

"Yes, we have almost unlimited power on the Nest so as long as we don't overload the gate's internal systems we're good to go," Sam answered.

"I will have a chat with Colonel Young then and send them your way as soon as possible," Jack said.


	16. Chapter 15

Jack knocked on the door to Colonel Young's room in the Alterran base on Earth late in the evening.

"Enter," Young said from inside.

Jack pressed down the handle and opened the door to see Young sitting in a sofa with Lieutenant Tamara Johansen next to him. With normal regulations no longer applying they had more or less moved in together. In front of them their TV was showing an old documentary about the life of ants, one of the few movies that had survived the chaos on Earth.

"Ants?" Jack asked as he walked through the door and sat down in a chair

"Best thing on at the moment, it is far from the adventures on Destiny, but it is still the best thing on," Young replied. "So what can we help you with General O'Neill?"

"Well I assume you heard where Sergeant Greer ended up before Sam and the Nest showed up?"

"Yes, but since you are here this time of the day instead of calling me to Atlantis I take it we're not going to hunt down that ship?" Young asked.

"No. But Sam seems to think that the ship could have something to do with the signal that Destiny was tracking-"

"In other words you want us back on board?" Tamara asked.

Jack slowly nodded. "If you want to, I am not about to force you back on board. We have people I can send there, but the expedition members deserve to have first pick since it was your home for a long time. Either way it is far from a one way trip this time. We can send you supplies on a moment's notice and anyone who needs to come back can do so. It will be no different than serving on another outpost. But as a failsafe we will make sure that you can produce all that you need on site and Sam's already making sure you will have all parts you need to fix and upgrade Destiny. Any other demands you have we will try to fix as soon as we can."

"Well a large stockpile of coffee for Rush would be a good thing, several changes of clothes would be nice to have, we've sort of gotten used to that now, and proper food. A hair curler would be nice too," Tamara said.

"We can fix all of that, I will have them send along some wall plugs for you too so that you can use all that stuff. And a coffee machine, and a washing machine. We will do what we can to make sure you have it as comfortable as possible onboard Destiny," Jack promised.

"I don't see why not, out there we have a mission. Here we just sit and wait for some idiot to do something stupid on Earth," Young said. "How many days until we leave?"

Jack checked his watch. "We would like to have a skeleton crew on the ship in four hours."

"Four hours?" Tamara asked.

"Yes, as I said we will be setting up a fallback point for you in case we are unable to dial in. My guess is that it will take at least a few weeks until that is ready and Destiny has had most systems repaired. We will also start by installing a Pegasus gate on Destiny, it should improve the travel comfort and reduce the energy requirements, or so I've been told. Once you are done there there is a secondary goal, making contact with the Novus people. If they are willing to provide you with assistance you are to plant a Pegasus gate on one of their worlds. In return they get access to some technology that may help them such as the technology to replicate Destiny's FTL drive and shields to handle FTL. As that is quite far off though we can talk about the details later."

"I will send for Doctor Rush, Eli, Chloe, Sergeant Greer and Lieutenant Scott. That makes seven people, it should be enough to crew the ship until the others can join us," Young said.

"Good, I have ten technicians and ten soldiers ready to step through the gate with you to Destiny and assist you. If you need a larger crew later I will sort it out."

"That will help."

Jack stood up and walked towards the door. "Report to Atlantis in three hours, since we are upgrading Destiny she will get some mental interfaces, so we will be upgrading you too."

"Three hours to pack up everything we have? That is not a small task," Tamara said.

"No not everything you have, enough to last a few weeks. I will make sure that the Nest is ready to dial to Destiny and back at least two times each week, so if anything is forgotten you can come back and get it when the time is right."

"We will need to restore Destiny before she can power the gate."

"Yes, but we, the Alterra that is, can order a gate to open in either direction. We can even open a wormhole between two other gates, providing power from a third. It is how we got you back in the first place. So no need to worry about that, we have the power to do it. I will see you on the Nest in a few hours." He walked out of the room, leaving Young and Tamara on the sofa. They looked back at the TV and saw the ants running over the screen with a dead larva, then they looked at each other.

"I guess we should start packing," she said.

"I guess we should," he replied.

Together they walked over to the dresser that was standing against the wall. Somewhere they had both hoped that they would get a chance to go back and as Young opened the top drawer they saw the backpack he had kept packed there. He took it out of the dresser and she opened the second drawer and removed her own backpack.

"Toothbrush?" she asked as she headed for the bathroom.

"Already packed."

"Good." She grabbed the curler and stuffed it into the backpack.

Seconds later they walked together hand in hand down the corridor to Rush's room.

When Young knocked it took a few seconds before Rush opened the door. In his free hand he held the same book as he had brought to Destiny and his reading glasses.

"Colonel Young. Going for a hike at this time?" he said.

"Get Eli and Chloe, we are going back to Destiny," Young replied.

Rush blinked a few times before dropping the book on the ground and darting inside his room. Before the two had time to walk away he was back with a duffle bag hanging on his shoulder.

"Who's saying that we're going back?" he asked.

"General O'Neill, it seems that they discovered some sort of connection between the vessel that Sergeant Greer ended up on and the background signal. I don't know anything else."

"I'll have to talk to Colonel Carter then. When are we leaving?"

"We need to be on Atlantis in less than three hours. You will have ten technicians to bring Destiny back into shape within a matter of weeks. After that we set of. The others will join us as they become available."

"A few weeks is not nearly enough time to fix Destiny with what we can bring through the gate in one go," Rush complained.

"Good thing that General O'Neill promised tours back and forth two times each week and the components you need. I suggest you talk to him but he said that Colonel Carter will make sure you will have all the parts you need."

"Eli," Tamara said and pointed towards the door they just passed.

"Oh, right," Rush said and banged his fist against the door.

They continued down the corridor to Scott's room and knocked on the door. It took a few minutes and several more knocks before Scott opened the door with a towel wrapped around his waist. When he realised who was standing before him Scott straightened up.

"Colonel. Is there something I can do for you?" he asked.

"Pack a bag Lieutenant, we are deploying back to Destiny. Report to Atlantis in three hours. Find the people you can and inform them, if they want to stay here or join us later that is fine. We'll inform Sergeant Greer to do the same," Young said.

"Three hours Sir?"

"Yes. An hour later we will be dialing Destiny so be on time."

"Yes Sir, I will inform Chloe, Eli and the others. Do you want Ms Wray along too?"

"If possible, but I am not sure where she went after we left Destiny. I've sent Rush to get Chloe and Eli so focus on military personnel."

"Sir, Rush might have some issues finding Chloe," Scott said while he blushed.

"Well in that case Lieutenant I suggest you tell her. Just make sure you take the time to pack, three hours, no more, no less."

"Yes Sir." Gently Scott closed the door and Young and Tamara moved on to find Greer.

###

Four hours later the Nest's gate activated and Colonel Young stepped through at the head of almost everyone from the original expedition into a gate room that was filled with crates from top to bottom.

"Colonel Young," Sam greeted him.

"Colonel Carter," Young replied.

"You brought a lot more people than I thought you would."

"It's home Colonel, we all want to go back," Tamara said.

"I understand. As soon as all your men are here we will dial Destiny and send you through."

Rush broke free from the group and came up to them. "So this is the ship that will give us power to reach Destiny?"

"Yes, it is powered by an Arcturus generator, it draws subspace energy from this dimension," Sam explained.

"So how long does it take to charge the capacitors enough to dial Destiny?"

"Actually we are running the gate straight from the generator, the output is enough to power the gate."

"Really?" Rush asked surprised.

"Yes." She turned towards a soldier who was carrying a briefcase. He held it up for her and she reached inside, when she turned back to the duo she held two stones in her hands wrapped in cloth.

"What are those?" Rush asked.

"These are Alterran transformation stones. If you accept them they will transform you into Alterra while you sleep. It will take several weeks, it all depends on how much you sleep."

"Why exactly? I thought we just got that treatment?" Young asked.

"No a Lanteans is only slightly more evolved than humans, the Alterra are the next point of evolution," Rush said.

"Yes that is correct, though seeing evolution as points or steps is misguiding, simply put the Alterra are the current pinnacle of human evolution."

"Why us though?" Young asked.

"Because you two are to be the leaders on Destiny, serving two sides. Military and technical. The Alterra used to be guides and leaders for younger races and Mokar thinks that tradition is worth keeping so since you two will be in charge of Destiny and essentially all our activities in that area of space he thinks it is fitting to offer you this chance and given that you two appear to need to be on the same terms to get along it's offered to you both," Sam explained.

"It will be an honor," Young said and grabbed one of the stones.

"Likewise," Rush said and took the other one.

"Instructions can be found on the piece of cloth," Sam said. She pressed her combadge and connected to the bridge. "Major would you please dial the gate to Destiny?"

-Yes Ma'am, dialing in process.-

Behind Young and Rush the gate began to dial. Young turned around and looked at the gate for a moment, then he tucked the stone into a pocket.

Young walked over to the side of the gate and climbed up on a crate. "Lieutenant Scott, Sergeant Greer take point. Military personnel go first, civilians follow. I will bring up the rear with Doctor Rush. Remember that this is Destiny and that we have been away for a while, we need to secure the entire ship again so make sure you do not just run of into the ship because you think you know what is waiting for us. Team up with someone and get as many of the crates in this room through the gate when you go. This is not Icarus and we can come back for this later, but the more we bring now the better." He was meet with silent nods as his expedition spread out into the room and began to grab crates.

Next to him the gate got a lock and flushed.

"Remember that it is a bumpy ride, push the crates before you and get clear as soon as you are able to," Young shouted. He nodded towards Scott and Greer who grabbed a crate between them and pushed it through the gate, then they stepped through. In pairs the expedition members stepped through the gate until finally only Young and Rush were left. They grabbed a crate and pushed it through the gate.

"Colonel, Doctor. Good luck," Sam said and saluted them. All of the other crew members of the Nest in the gate room joined her. Young turned around and returned the salute before following Rush through the gate.


	17. Chapter 16

Together Young and Rush stumbled through the gate into Destiny's gate room.

"Is anyone injured?" Young asked.

"Just a few bruises Colonel," Tamara said.

"Good. I want teams of four sweeping the ship just in case the Goa'uld left any surprises," Young ordered. "Lieutenant Scott, you're in charge of the sweep. TJ, get the infirmary going in case we need it. I will be on the bridge if you need me. Rush, Eli, Chloe, come with me."

Next to Young Scott began to order people into groups depending on expertise while Young pulled Rush, Eli and Chloe away from the others and into one of the side corridors.

"So do we have a plan?" Eli asked.

"Yes we are going to pull over and repair the ship," Young said.

"Meaning that Chloe will need to find a system with a star where we can recharge that also has several planets with metals and minerals," Rush said.

"And what about us?" Eli asked.

"We need to make sure that we can go to hyperspace when Chloe finds a suitable system. So we need to go through all systems and see if the Goa'uld planted any failsafes or traps."

"You really think they did that?" Eli asked.

"You were here Eli, you know what they did to all of us. You know how pathetically paranoid they were, we need to be equally paranoid to make sure they left nothing behind," Young said.

"There are quite a lot of systems we need to sort through, like all of Destiny's systems," Eli said.

"Then we-" Rush was interrupted by an explosion.

Young pressed his com badge. "Lieutenant what's happening?"

-Someone found a rigged door leading into the hydroponics lab. I will inform you when I know more Sir,- Scott replied.

"We're in no rush Lieutenant, make sure everyone takes things slow and stay safe," Young said.

Rush tapped his com badge. "Listen up Lieutenant. We got several handheld scanners from Atlantis, check the crates in the gate room. They should be able to detect explosives or at least any strange shapes on the other side of the doors."

-Thank you Rush. I will have them distributed,- Scott said.

In front of the four the door to the bridge was sitting.

"So how do we know that the door isn't rigged?" Eli asked.

"Because Colonel Sheppard was the last one to leave and the door was sealed by remote when he left," Rush said. He had walked up to the keypad next to the door and entered a code, it took several seconds before the large metal door opened and revealed the bridge inside.

"So what are we starting with?" Eli asked when he sat down in one of the chairs.

"You can start with diagnostic systems and integrity checks. I'll check internal sensors and life-support," Rush said as he sat down next to Eli.

"So can I start up the navigational systems?" Chloe asked.

"No not yet, we need to scrub every system, in case they tried to sabotage anything. Luckily it is Alterran technology and General O'Neill gave me these." He fished out two storage drives from a pocket and handed one to Eli. "These are packed with standard Alterran tools, it will allow us to cut through the code for each system quickly. As soon as Eli has managed to check diagnostics and integrity checks we can have the ship run through the systems one by one and check that everything works as it should. Anything that doesn't we will need to fix."

"Wow, this is much nicer than what we usually see here on Destiny," Eli said as he started the program on the storage drive.

"Yes well do not get to used to it Eli," Rush said.

"Fine."

-Colonel we have two men injured by the explosion, TJ is tending to them now,- Scott reported.

"Copy that Lieutenant, I do not want anyone else to get hurt," Young replied.

-Of course Sir.-

Slowly the seconds turned into minutes and finally and hour had passed.

"How are we looking Rush?" Young finally asked.

"As soon as Eli is done with two more systems Chloe can start working on finding us a system to park in," Rush replied.

"Navigation is already checked out and restored to full function, star charts and all data that the seed ships gathered are available. Just avoid moving the ship for now, both sublight and FTL drives are boobytrapped so leave them until I have a chance to sort it out," Eli replied.

"So I can find a solar system in the navigational system now?" Chloe asked.

"Yea, go right ahead," Eli said.

"Good. There's not been any tampering with internal sensors or life-support," Rush said and rose from the chair. "I will have the automated maintenance robots we just brought with us start repairs on the ship."

Eli waited until Rush had left the bridge before he spoke. "Is it just me or is Rush too friendly and talkative?"

"He's home here Eli and there's nothing that can take his happiness away from him," Young said.

"I think he wants things to go better this time, you two don't have to fight over decisions this time because we have the resources to stay safe and complete the mission," Chloe said.

"I guess we will never know," Eli said and returned focus to his screen.

###

On his way from the bridge Rush came across Adam Brody and Dale Volker.

"Hey Rush how are things going on the bridge?" Brody asked.

"Fine, Eli is working on the drives and when he is done with that we can get going," Rush replied as he passed them. He turned around a few meters after he had passed them. "If you have the time I could use some help."

"What do you need?" Volker asked.

"Come on," Rush said and led them towards the gate room. "We got several automatic maintenance robots from Atlantis and we need to program them to start work on the hull and the energy capacitors. Colonel Carter compiled a list of systems that we can upgrade so we will not touch any of those systems."

"What are those systems?"

"Subspace array, sensors, weapon frequency oscillators, the gate, power conduits, we will replace half of the shield emitters too, we need half of the ones we have now working to be able to recharge inside stars so we repair those and replace the rest with modern Alterran emitters for combat."

"So basically we will have two shields overlapping each other."

They entered the gate room and Rush led them towards a pile of crates, each one was carefully tagged with content and quantity.

"Perhaps, or we only use the one we have now when passing through stars," Rush said as he climbed up on one of the crates and began to read the labels.

###

"FTL and sublight drives are back online," Eli said on the bridge.

"Good," Young said. "Do you have any candidates Chloe?"

"A few, we are still at the very edge of this new galaxy so there's not that many red dwarfs that we can reach through FTL with our current energy reserves," Chloe replied.

"Do you have any favorites?"

"There is one system with a red dwarf and four planets, one of which is Earth like. One is a gas giant and the other two are rock planets with substantial mineral deposits."

"Then plot a course to the system. As long as we can recharge and mine basic resources it fills our needs, but if there is a planet where we can get of the ship while it undergoes repairs that is better for morale and as a base if we need it," Young said.

"I'm still searching, there are thousands of systems in range that I still need to evaluate and we could find something better in range," Chloe said.

"Is there any downsides to this system?" Eli asked.

"It is at the maximum range at the moment."

"We could recharge on the way there."

"So far that is the only suitable star in that direction, mostly it is blue and white giants."

"You say we can make it Chloe?" Young asked.

"Yes, but it will be close," she said.

"I can shut of some systems, life support, internal sensors, the bridge, the gate, tactical systems. Once we're in FTL I can shut of short range sensors to save some more power. It won't be a lot, but it could give us a few minutes, maybe an hour," Eli said.

"So are there any other systems that come even close to this one that is closer?" Young asked.

"So far we can get a few rock planets with small amounts of minerals and metals at best, they are not dangerously far away, but we will still be down to reserve power when we get there."

Young pressed his com badge. "Rush, Chloe has located a system with an Earth like planet and large deposits of minerals. As always we will be cutting things close but Eli tells me that we can shut down some systems to get enough power."

-As long as he checked out all involved systems we are good to go. We have just started up two of the maintenance robots and will get the other twelve going soon,- Rush replied.

"Plotting course now," Chloe said. Outside the bridge they saw the stars move as Destiny turned, once on course they jumped to FTL.

Young pressed a button on the command chair and activated Destiny's internal speakers. "This is Colonel Young, as you just noticed we have jumped to FTL towards a star where Destiny can recharge and we can repair her." He checked the timer that was counting down in front of him. "Our ETA is five hours."

"Shutting down everything we're not going to use," Eli announced as the bridge sank down into the hull and the screens shut down. "You will have to pilot Destiny from the control interface room."

"That's fine," Chloe said. Together the three left the bridge.

###

Several hours later Rush, Volker and Brody were unboxing one of the new power conduits when the lights in the gate room began to flash.

Rush looked at the lights for a few seconds before tapping his com badge. "Eli just how close are we cutting things?"

-Closer than we should but we should have enough power to stay in FTL at least an hour or two more than we need,- Eli replied.

"We have lights flashing in the gate room so could you check the power distribution?"

-Just give me a second... It looks like there's no power running through that section at all.-

"Check again Eli, the lights are on and the gate consoles are active."

-I shut down the gate consoles hours ago.-

With speed that amazed even himself Rush jumped down from the pile of crates and ran over to the consoles. Brody and Volker followed a few seconds later.

It only took Rush a few seconds to see the power building up inside the gate on the console.

"Eli, there is power building inside the gate, I'm locked out," Rush yelled.

-As far as I can see that entire section is unpowered.-

"Drop us out of FTL and dial the gate so we can channel the energy into a wormhole," Rush ordered.

-Dropping out,- Eli said but nothing happened. Slowly the seconds ticked by.

"Eli," Rush yelled. In front of his eyes energy started to crackle along the surface of the gate.

-All systems tells me that we dropped out of FTL but navigation tells me that we are still traveling at FTL speeds.-

"Run," Rush yelled to Brody and Volker.

No one had a chance to move before the yellow shimmering of Destiny's shield formed around the gate, a split second later the gate exploded.


	18. Chapter 17

In the control interface room Eli just managed to focus Destiny's shield on the gate before the explosion in the gate room threw them all to the floor.

"Chloe?" Eli asked. He was lying on his back and the room was almost pitch black but he could see a faint green light to his right

"Over here Eli," Chloe answered from somewhere in the dark.

"Are you okey?"

"I feel fine, but there is something lying on top of me."

"I'll see what I can do." He rolled over on his stomach and got his hands beneath him. He cried out in pain as one of his arms gave way under him.

"What's happening Eli?"

"I think my arm's broken." He held the injured arm close to his chest as he slowly got up and moved towards the green light, he knelt down and felt fabric in his hands. "Chloe is this you?"

"No, I can hear you moving to my left."

"I think I found Colonel Young then." His hand found a pocket and he reached inside and pulled out the light stick that was glowing. The light was more than enough for Eli to see Youngs chest moving up and down. "He's breathing."

"Good. Can you help me now?"

"Sure just give me a moment." He reached back inside Young's pocket and removed the rest of the light sticks, he cracked them against the floor and threw them out into the room. Then he moved over to Chloe.

She was trapped beneath one of the consoles that had fallen over, but it was holding up most of its own weight.

"Push on three," Eli said. He grabbed the console with his working hand and counted, but when he pulled the console stayed in place. Again he counted and again the console stayed in place.

They began to hear the sound of boots hitting the floor and could see flashlights swaying in the end of a corridor.

"We're over here," Eli yelled. They heard how the rhythm of the footsteps increased and seconds later Sergeant Greer and a group of marines stormed into the room.

"Are you injured?" Greer asked as he knelt down next to Chloe.

"I think I'm just trapped, I don't feel injured," Chloe said.

"Then let's get this thing off you." Greer and his men knelt down around the console and heaved it off her.

Carefully Chloe moved each limb before getting up.

"Are you good?" Greer asked.

"Yes, a bit bruised but nothing is broken. Eli injured his arm though," she answered.

"Let me see that arm Eli," Greer ordered.

"I'm fine. You need to check Colonel Young." Eli gestured towards the dark corner where Young was lying. Greer gestured towards the corner and two of his men ran over to Young.

Greer grabbed Eli's arm and twisted it, in response Eli shouted. "Toughen up Eli, you might have sprained your wrist but nothing is broken."

"Sergeant, the Colonel is alive and breathing but unconscious," one of the men reported.

Greer pressed his com badge. "Lieutenant Johanssen, Colonel Young is knocked out in the control room and Mister Wallace has an injured wrist."

-Copy that Sergeant. If the Colonel is alive he will need to wait. Rush, Brody and Volker are locked inside the gate room, bring Eli down so we can get the doors open,- Tamara replied.

"You heard the lady Eli, get a move on," Greer urged.

"I'm not even sure if we have the power to open doors," Eli said.

"Then you better figure it out when you get there."

"Fine," Eli said. He grabbed Greer's flashlight and walked away.

"Can you do anything to turn the lights on?" Greer asked Chloe.

"I can calculate trajectories and FTL jumps but without power I'm not sure how to even access the systems. You need Eli or Rush to fix the lights."

"It can't be that hard, there has to be a switch somewhere," Greer complained.

"Back home maybe, but here everything is controlled by computers so we need the consoles to talk to the computers."

###

The moment Eli turned the corner into the corridor leading to the gate room Tamara and Scott were there.

"The door's locked," Scott said.

"Yes I understood that. Just let me take a look and I will see what I can do." He pushed past them and all the crates in the corridor and approached the door. He pressed the button next to the door but it did nothing, not even beep.

"We already tried that," Scott said.

"Let me do my thing and you can do your thing." He broke open the control panel and began to trace the crystal paths inside.

"Let me have a look at your wrist while you work Eli," Tamara said as she sat down next to him.

"Just don't disturb me."

"I won't."

While Tamara tended to his arm Eli worked inside the control panel. It took him about a minute before he stood up.

"I'm not done with that yet," Tamara said.

"Well I am done." He put his finger on a broken circuit and forced the two ends together. The cogwheel on the door began to turn and the door's seal broke, they could all feel the air draining out of the room as the door began to open. Quickly Eli removed his finger and the door closed again.

"Eli, we need that door open," Scott shouted.

"I know, but life support is still offline which means that we can't spare the air. We need an air lock." He ran over the door at the end of the corridor and closed it.

"We go on three and take one each."

"I need to keep the door open, one of you needs to do two runs," Eli said.

"I do two runs then, TJ, you take the one furthest away."

"Sounds good," Tamara replied.

"One, two, three." Eli pressed his finger into the door panel and the door opened. They all felt the air draining out of the room and the temperature drop.

Scott and Tamara took one final deep breath and rushed into the gate room. Above them the shield was flashing as it tried to close the hull breach but it was leaking air and in front of them the gate was missing.

Scott reached Rush first and dragged him back towards the makeshift airlock. By the time Scott was going after Volker he felt the air in his system growing thin. Tamara carried Brody into the makeshift airlock just before Scott collapsed through the door with Volker in his arms.

Once everyone was inside Eli removed his finger and the door closed, then he hurried over to the other door and opened it to let air inside.

"Will they make it?" Eli asked.

"We need to get them to the infirmary and get them heated up, but yes they will live," Tamara said.

"That's a relief," Scott said.

"We still need to get lifesupport back online," Eli reminded.

"So start it up."

"Whatever happened to the gate it drained power, we do not have the power necessary to access any system. We are adrift."

"And what exactly happened to the gate?" Tamara asked.

"Hard to tell without a closer look, but-"

"We have a Kino, we could send that in there," Scott said and held out the small black sphere which Eli quickly grabbed.

"I need to get these to the infirmary," Tamara said.

Scott tapped his com badge. "Anyone in the general area of the gate room come to the corridor outside."

"I will come to the infirmary as soon as I have checked out the gate room," Eli said. They had already moved everyone out of the makeshift airlock but Eli stepped back in and closed the door behind him.

It took only a few minutes before people began to gather in the corridor and they could carry away Rush, Brody and Volker.

###

"Matt I need your help," Eli said as he rushed into the infirmary with a datapad in hand.

"What's going on Eli?" Scott asked.

Eli showed a datapad into Scott's hands. The datapad showed a Kino image of some hastily written text on the floor of the gate room, written using blood. "This, I think Rush wrote it."

"That's just a mix of numbers and letters. Or is it some sort of math thing?" Scott asked.

"Sort of, it is the ID number for one of the crates we brought with us. Whatever it is Rush wrote this in his own blood."

"So where is the crate?"

"I think it was sucked out after the explosion."

"But we were in FTL, wouldn't that mean that those crates could be spread out over a wast area of space?"

"The FTL drive would have been disrupted by the powersurge that evaporated the gate, we would have dropped out of FTL before the hull was breached. So we need to search in a cone above the ship. With the shuttle's sensors we can locate and recover the crates."

"Are you sure Eli?"

"Yes I am."

"Sir you need to lie down and rest," Tamara said next to them.

"I need to help save this ship Lieutenant," Colonel Young said. He was lying next to Scott on one of the beds. "Lieutenant Scott, assist Eli in recovering that crate. I know Rush wouldn't waste time writing something unless it was important."

"Yes Sir," Scott said and led Eli out of the infirmary. "You said Destiny has no power, will the shuttles fly?"

"Independent power sources. We will be fine," Eli replied as he followed Scott deeper into the ship.

Scott tapped his com badge. "Sergeant Greer, bring what men you can to the EVA room."

-Yes Sir,- Greer replied.

"I hope you're right about this Eli."

"And I hope Rush is right," Eli replied.

A minute later they stepped into the storage room where the Alterran space suits were stored.

"Let's get you suited up first," Scott said. He grabbed one of the suits and carried it over to Eli. Piece by piece Scott helped Eli into the suit.

While they were putting a glove over Eli's injured wrist Greer and ten men entered the room. "So what are we doing?" Greer asked.

"A lot of crates were sucked into space and we need to get them back," Scott said.

"So why is Eli coming?" Greer asked.

"Because I'm looking for a certain crate that I hope can get us out of this situation," Eli responded.

"Fair enough."

With the extra men Greer and Scott quickly donned the suits. They double checked all the seals on the suits before grabbing the helmets.

""Let's go," Scott said. He led them out of the room and down the corridor to the shuttle.

Scott sealed the hatch behind them and helped Eli with his helmet. He put on his own helmet and sat down in the pilot's seat.

"So where are we going Eli?" Scott asked.

"When the FTL drive pulled us out of FTL we would have reached a near standstill, so head to the breach and we can go from there," Eli replied.

"Copy that." Scott unlocked the docking clamps and the shuttle took of. They were far away from any stars so Scott activated the shuttle's floodlights. Carefully the shuttle floated over the hull until they reached the hull breach over the gate room. Eli shifted one of the floodlights upwards and they could see the light reflecting in the crates. Gently Scott piloted the shuttle towards the crates, he opened the rear hatch and Greer stepped out into the doorway. They backed up towards a group of crates and Greer reached out and pulled one inside, followed by another and another. Inside the shuttle Eli did his best to keep the crates in place while reading the inventory numbers on each one, all in zero gravity. Slowly the shuttle began to fill up with crates.

"We need to head back and unload soon," Scott said.

"There is one final crate just out of reach," Greer said.

"We still don't have the one we're after," Eli complained.

"Last one," Greer said and pulled a crate inside. He pressed a button next to the hatch and the shuttle sealed itself and began to pump in air. With the shuttle sealed the artificial gravity activated and the cartes were pulled down to the floor.

"I think we got it," Eli shouted when he read the number on the final crate.

"That means that someone else gets your suit when we go back for the rest of the crates," Scott said.

"Fine with me," Eli said. He began to get out of the suit and got a hand from Greer. When they came in for landing Eli was finally free from the suit.

After locking down the shuttle to the ship Scott got up and came over to Eli, Greer and the final crate.

"So what's inside?" Greer asked.

"Let's find out," Eli said. He opened the two locks on the crate and opened the lid. Inside custom cut foam was holding a single ZPM and an interface for the ZPM.

"That's what Rush sent us to find?" Scott asked.

"Yes. It's an Alterran battery. With this plugged in we will have the energy we need to jump back into FTL and reach our destination," Eli explained. He dragged the crate with him out of the rear hatch and back onto Destiny.

"We shouldn't need to make more than one run to get the rest of the crates back, can you have it ready by then?" Scott asked.

"Yea it won't take long to get it plugged in."

The men that had helped them with the suits waited for them outside the shuttle and began to unload the crates.

"Help Eli with the crate," Scott ordered one of the men.

"Yes Sir," the man said. He grabbed the crate from Eli and threw it over his shoulder. "Where to Sir?"

"Control room," Eli said and led the way.

In a few minutes they were in the control interface room.

"Put it down next to the console," Eli said. He pressed the com badge on his chest. "Chloe can you come to the control room? We will have power back online soon."

-I will be right there,- she replied.

"Will that be all Sir?" the soldier asked.

"Yes, thank you."

With the soldier leaving Eli got to work. He lifted the interface and the ZPM out of the crate and then he got to work on plugging the interface into Destiny's power grid. While he was busy installing the interface Chloe arrived.

"How's the wrist Eli?" she asked.

"It hurts, but right now I can do with one hand. Can you pass me the orange clip?"

"Here." She handed him the clip attached to the interface by a long cable.

Eli took it and connected it to Destiny. "That should do it."

"There's a lot of cables left Eli," Chloe said. About twenty cables coming from the interface were still lying on the floor.

"Yes, it is meant to plug into all sorts of power systems so there are cables that we will not be needing." He grabbed the ZPM from the floor and let it slide into the interface, it took a few seconds before the ZPM lit up and the lights in the room followed shortly after.

"Good work Eli."

"Now we just need to limit the drain, shut down things we don't need and get lifesupport back online."

"I'll plot a new FTL course." She stepped up to one of the consoles and began to work.

"There is no rush, it looks like we still have six hours before we can go to FTL," Eli said from the other console in the room.

"Eli I think we have another issue. Lifesupport is running out."

"Yes I know, I'm trying to restart life support right now."

"Can you get me short range sensors?"

"There, they are online."

"Good, I will see if I can help Matt locate the crates."

"Plot the course first, in case we need it," Eli said. His tone had changed slightly.

"What about the countdown?" Chloe asked.

"We might need to override it. I'm only getting partial responses from life support systems."

"Can you fix it?"

"With some time, maybe. But now we are in a rush so probably not."

"I will help Matt get the crates quickly, maybe we can use the shuttle's lifesupport to buy some time."

"It could buy us ten, twenty minutes before we pass out, maybe. I need to get the CO2 scrubbers working."

"But they are in the gate room Eli, there's no air for them to clean."

"No, they are spread out across... The one with the material from Novus is in the gate room, of course. With the ZPM installed I think the shield can keep their air inside the room thick enough for me to get in there and retrieve the canister. Then we can plug it into another scrubber and begin to seal of areas that are leaking."

"Eli we are running out of time, the ship says forty five minutes before we run out of air and we still have an hour in FTL. If you fix the scrubber during the FTL jump we have time otherwise that Earth-like planet is our best choice."

"But we lack the air to even get there. Even if we get there using the shuttle to extent the air supply we need the shuttle to get people to the surface. Six trips to get everyone, it will take hours."

"So we enter stasis. Anyone who can be spared goes to sleep, they won't need to breath and we get some extra time."

A window began to flash on his console. "Crap, we're not the issue. Destiny has taken too much damage, we're leaking air like a punctured balloon. The number of people awake make little difference. We can pump the air into areas where people are and seal all bulkheads, might buy us some time." He pressed his com badge. "Colonel Young, we need you in the control room."

-Copy that Eli, I will be there as soon as I can,- Young answered.

Eli tapped his badge again. "Matt, we're ready to jump and need to do so now."

-We are already on our way back," Scott said.

"Chloe, keep an eye on the shuttle. The moment that it is locked in place we jump to FTL. If we can perform an aerobraking maneuver at high velocity through the lower atmosphere of the Earth-like planet and dial back the shields over the exposed areas that are not burning we might be able to get some fresh air into the ship."

"How do we even know if we can breath the air?"

"We trust the readings from the seedship and pray."

"Eli, this is a bad idea." In front of her the console beeped. "Shuttle just docked."

"Go, jump." They felt the acceleration as they jumped to FTL. "It's far from a perfect plan, but that is the only one I can come up with. Make sure Matt keeps the shuttle's systems running."

"So what's the plan then Eli?" Young asked as he stepped into the room.

"We're running out of air, or more like leaking air. We have just under forty minutes before we pass out from a lack of oxygen and fifty minutes before we get to our destination. I've started to pump air away from leaking areas and sealing them off, but I don't think it will help much. She's an old ship so there's bound to be leakage in door seals and welds."

"That's a problem Eli, not a plan."

"Well Eli thinks we should recharge our air supply in the atmosphere of the Earth-like planet," Chloe said.

"That doesn't exactly feel safe," Young said.

"It's not. Look with the shuttle we have managed to get ten or fifteen minutes worth of air, so we can get there. It will take us several hours to shuttle everyone off this ship, we need more air. One aerobraking maneuver should be enough for the air system to pump air into the ship, enough to get everyone of this ship and down on the planet. We brought Alterran machines to repair Destiny, if we bring them down on the surface we can set up camp before repairing Destiny."

"Can't we land?"

"She was never meant to land and in this shape we will probably exploded on contact. At best we can take up a low orbit using sublight engines, keeping Destiny's air barely breathable. That's the best we can hope for."

"We need more Eli, we came all the way here to continue. We can't abort after a few hours," Young yelled.

"Look, we're not in a position to ask for better, we're screwed unless we can get down on the planet. We can come back and repair Destiny but for now we're along for the ride."

Young took a few deep breaths. "Fine, what do you need us to do?"

"Get everyone of the ship. If we can flood the ship with air that we can breath and fill her up we will have several hours before the air thins out again, but if we only get a partial flood we're not going to have that long."

"We will fill up the shuttle. I want you two off this ship alive, so make sure you don't wait too long before getting to the shuttle," Young said before leaving.


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: This is the last chapter of this book. Make sure to put me on your author alert or favorite list if you want to know when the next book is finished.**

To get better control of Destiny Eli and Chloe had moved from the control room to the bridge.

Eli tapped his com badge. "Colonel Young, we will soon be leaving FTL."

-We're ready with the shuttle as soon as we drop out,- Colonel Young replied.

"We've moved to the bridge to get better control of the ship," Eli said.

-Make sure you have air to get back to the shuttle.-

"No worries, this is going to work just fine." Eli tapped the com badge again and

shut it off.

"Taking us out of FTL," Chloe said.

In front of them the blue flux of FTL vanished and they could see the huge green and blue planet that they were rushing towards. Further down Destiny's hull they saw the shuttle release and dive towards the surface.

"We blew the FTL engines getting here," Eli said.

"We're alive Eli, that's good enough for me."

"Me too. Now if we can level out and not crash into the surface that would be great."

"That would be great," Greer said. He had entered the bridge without them noticing.

"I'm working on that," Chloe replied.

They could all feel the ship shake as they entered the upper atmosphere and flames began to curve around the shield.

"Is that suppose to happen?" Greer asked.

"It means that the atmosphere is thick enough to support life, flames require oxygen so we will be able to breath," Eli said.

In front of them the planet moved out of the way as the ship leveled out.

"I'm dialing down the shield over the damaged sections," Eli said.

"We're still on fire Eli," Greer said.

"Don't worry, that's being reflected by the shield on the underside of the ship. I'm only dialing down the shield on the top side of the ship."

An explosion rocketed the ship and Eli feel out of the chair. Behind him Greer got up and helped Eli back into the chair.

"I take it that wasn't suppose to happen?" Greer asked.

"I've lost control over the sublight engines," Chloe said.

Behind them Greer tapped his com badge. "Colonel Young, we have lost control over the engines."

-Copy that Sergeant. Lieutenant Scott is trying to catch up to us but we are going to fast,- Young replied.

"We have bigger problems," Eli shouted. On the horizon a mountain began to form.

"How much too tall is that mountain?" Greer asked. He took a seat next to Eli.

"Four hundred meters, maybe more. We're sinking quite fast," Chloe said.

"Then I suggest that we do something about that." Greer powered up the weapon system and lowered the main weapon. In a matter of second he began to fire towards the mountain.

As they neared the mountain Eli activated the internal speakers. "Brace for impact. We're going in hard. I repeat, brace for impact."

Destiny smashed into and through what was left of the mountain. The shield held against the impact, but all three on the bridge where thrown out of their chairs and into the windows. After hitting the mountain Destiny dropped quickly and plowed into the lake lying on the other side of the mountain. When Destiny finally stopped she lied stranded on the beach of the lake.

###

It took several minutes before Scott and the shuttle came over the mountain and saw the crash site. Where Destiny had struck the water before plowing up onto the shore large pillars of steam rose upwards. Behind Destiny a new bay had formed that was starting to fill with water.

Scott tapped his com badge. "Colonel Young, can you hear me?"

-I'm here Lieutenant, we're a bit beat up but everyone is alive. We're unable to contact Eli, Chloe and Sergeant Greer. Can you fly by the bridge and check for lifesigns?- Colonel Young replied.

"Copy that Colonel." Scott turned the shuttle in flight so they could see inside the bridge. "We are just passing over the bridge. There's no movement inside."

-We have people on the way there. Head back and get the people you took down in the shuttle here, we'll have to sort this mess out.-

"Yes Sir." Scott turned the shuttle around and headed back to the people he had left on the ground.

Twenty minutes later Scott was returning with the people and Rush was standing behind him, he had woken up on their way down to the surface.

"Are you sure Destiny is fine?" Rush asked as he saw the mountain and the large marks that Destiny had carved through the top of the mountain.

"She was still in one piece when I headed back for you all," Scott answered.

"Being in one piece does not mean that she's fine."

"She's lying on the other side of the mountain and as soon as we get there you can start to examine her."

They flew over the mountain and Scott felt Rush coming closer.

"There she is Rush," Scott said.

"Yes thank you, I can see that," Rush replied.

When they came up to Destiny Scott slowed down so Rush could get a better look while they passed over the hull to the shuttle pad.

"She looks surprisingly well for a crash landing," Rush said while Scott landed on the shuttle pad.

"We found the ZPM, Eli used it to get power back after the explosion," Scott said. The docking clamps locked the shuttle in place and the door in the back opened.

"Alright everyone listen up," Colonel Young's voice sounded from the door. "For the time being we are stuck on this planet which means that we will need to find food and water. But as we brought food from Atlantis we will start with that later. For now I want everyone to settle in, find somewhere to sleep. If you want to help with anything today come see me or Lieutenant Scott." Quite quickly the shuttle began to empty, but Rush and Scott waited for Young to step inside the shuttle.

"How are you feeling Rush?" Young asked.

"Fine, a slight headache but as long as I can breath I see no reason to complain. But I think I need to have a word with Eli about how we're going to get off the planet," Rush replied.

"Well you're going to have to wait until TJ thinks it's safe for him to wake up. He's pretty beaten up, she's sedated him until she can patch him up."

"Is Chloe alright?" Scott asked.

"She broke several ribs but she is in a much better condition that both Eli and Sergeant Greer. We're lucky there were no casualties," Young said.

"I expected Destiny to be in worse shape after cleaving that mountain, I'm surprised everyone made it," Rush said.

"Yes. We are lucky. I guess we should be lucky that we don't need to worry about the air now, at least."

"The upside to having landed is that we can go through the entire ship without worrying about hull breaches. But sections of the ship could be stressed by their own weight, so we have to be careful that nothing collapses."

"I will let you see to the repairs Rush, we will try to keep the crew to areas that we know are safe if possible," Young said.

"Good. Lieutenant, I will be needing your help with the shuttle to deploy our mining equipment."

"Of course. I will be with Chloe until you need me," Scott said, then he left the shuttle.

"So what actually happened in the gate room Rush?" Young asked.

"The gate exploded, we're lucky Destiny deflected the explosion through the hull with the shield. I got hit by one of the crates when the air rushed out and pulled the crates with them. The door was too far away, so I wrote down the code for the crate with the ZPM hoping that Eli would be able to save Destiny. I will admit that this is not what I thought would happen," Rush said. He walked past Young and left the shuttle.


End file.
